textproduct: La Crosse

KEY MESSAGES

- Showers and possibly a thunderstorm move across the forecast area this evening with the highest rainfall along an axis from northeast Iowa into central Wisconsin.

- More rain for Thursday night, mainly for northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin where 0.25 to 0.75" will be possible.

- Warming into the weekend and early next week as highs get into the 70s for Sunday and Monday. Periodic rain and thunderstorms expected Saturday into Monday.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 650 PM CDT Wed Apr 8 2026

This Evening: Showers and Storms Pushing East

A band of rain showers is pushing eastward through the forecast area this evening and slides into south-central Wisconsin by midnight. Highest rainfall amounts will be along an axis from northeast Iowa into central Wisconsin where around a quarter of an inch is expected.

Thursday: Cooler with More Rain South of I-90

Temperatures on Thursday cool down closer to normal, towards the low to mid 50s. The cold front that will pass through today, stalls out to our south across Iowa. A shortwave dips down into the Upper Midwest interacting with this cold front. This interaction helps to increase the moisture transport into Iowa and southern Wisconsin as southerly 850mb winds help to push moisture northward. Showers and thunderstorms develop in Iowa and Illinois Thursday afternoon while northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin see rain move in by Thursday evening. Rain totals are generally in the 0.25 to 0.5" range except for far southern portions of Fayette, Clayton, and Grant counties where up to 0.75" will be possible.

Friday-Monday: Warming Up, Periodic Showers and Storms

The end of the week will be slightly above normal with temperatures as a high pressure system translates across the Upper Midwest. Winds stay light and out of the north. By Saturday there is good agreement on ensemble and deterministic data that southwesterly flow returns and sticks around into Monday. EFI values for Sunday and Monday have a good area for above normal temperatures including Monday where the entire forecast area is in the 0.8 to 0.9 range. Combining these warm temperatures with the above normal PWAT entering the region, heavy rainfall will certainly be possible. Starting on Saturday PWATs increase to the 97.5 percentile and on Sunday into Monday they increase further towards the 99.5 percentile based on the recent NAEFS run. As a result of this flow pattern, a few waves move into the region increasing rain and thunderstorm chances. Although heavy rainfall is possible given this setup, there is still quite a bit of uncertainty on where exactly this heavier rainfall ends up, given that this is still a few days away. LREF probabilities for greater than an inch of rain are low, around 10% for any one location during the weekend and early next week. With this setup, severe storms will once again be possible this weekend, particularly on Sunday where SPC has put a slight risk (15%) for severe weather from along I-90 south.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY/

Issued at 650 PM CDT Wed Apr 8 2026

A band of VFR showers is progressing east through central Wisconsin into northeast Iowa and should depart the region by 06Z (areas northwest of a MCW to EAU line are already in the clear). Primarily VFR conditions are expected for the rest of the TAF period outside of a band of MVFR stratus around sunrise north of an EAU to MFI line. MVFR ceilings creep northward towards CCY to DLL Thursday night as our next round of rain approaches. Southwesterly winds over SW Wisconsin quickly back to the northwest by 02-03Z tonight and winds areawide remain from the NW through the period at around 5-10 kts.

ARX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WI...None. MN...None. IA...None.