textproduct: La Crosse

KEY MESSAGES

- Moderate to heavy snow gradually winds down from west to east this morning, ending west of the Mississippi River before 9am and areas east before noon.

- Cooler for the weekend with a chance for some flurries Saturday night into Sunday morning east of the Mississippi River.

- A return to at or above normal temperatures for the middle to end of the week.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 220 AM CST Fri Feb 20 2026

This Morning: Ongoing Heavy Snow

At the 11th hour, our winter storm made a slight northwestward wobble and brought the edge of the heavier snow band back towards a Charles City/La Crosse/Wisconsin Rapids line while bringing the warm sector a little farther north into Grant County. Overall, the forecast remains on track in terms of snow amounts within the band of highest snow, just shifted a county or so further northwest than we had yesterday. It also highlights the well-advertised fact that the forecast for this system would remain fluid right until the end, which it sure was.

The surface low is now pulling off to NE into south-central Wisconsin, allowing the trowal to spread into the region and begin dumping its copious amounts of snow. This continues through about 5 to 6am, at which point the system will begin to shunt off to the east and clear the forecast area before midday. Snowfall rates of 1"/hr are expected in the band of heaviest snow, resulting in the highest storm total snow amounts in the 6 to 8 inch range.

The pressure gradient quickly tightens up as the low pulls away, resulting in wind gusts of 30-40 mph for this morning that will result in blowing and drifting snow--most impactful on exposed and higher elevations. The winds decrease this afternoon with ridging building eastward.

The Weekend: Colder, Flurries Sat Night?

Polar air lurking over the Dakotas this morning finally starts to filter southeastward, but given the complex upper level longwave trough pattern and an upstream shortwave trough deepening as it moves across the Rockies, there will not be a cohesive push to bring this colder air into the region until later in the weekend as this shortwave moves through. The end result will be a steadily cooling for today through Sunday, with highs in the low to mid 20s for Sunday and lows Monday morning in the single digits. The passage of this aforementioned upper level trough is also the focus for a round of flurries Saturday night and Sunday morning east of the Mississippi River ahead of the 500-mb vort lobe.

Middle of Next Week: Warming Up, Maybe some Rain/Snow?

Synoptic longwave ridging across the western CONUS begins to flatten and spread east as we go through the start of the week, which will have the effect of shunting our cooler air back to the north. However, exactly how this ridge breaks down remains less certain and will play a role in our temperature and precipitation forecast for midweek and beyond. There is good agreement that a Pacific airmass spreads across the High Plains and into the region for Tuesday and Wednesday, resulting in high temperatures returning to the 30s and maybe 40s (possibly influenced by where we have snow on the ground). The interquartile temperature spread increases to 10-15 degrees beyond Tuesday (20-25 degrees for the 10th to 90th percentiles), a function of how quickly the ridge flattens and how far south it sinks later in the week.

A few quick hitting vort lobes eject and ride down the crest of the ridge for the middle part of the week, but overall confidence in any details with these systems is low at the present time.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 500 AM CST Fri Feb 20 2026

IFR to LIFR conditions currently in heavy snow east of a CCY to RCX line steadily clear from west to east through the morning, exiting the area before noon. Blowing snow could reduce visibilities in open areas through midday. MVFR ceilings linger for the remainder of the TAF period. Winds will be from the northwest at 10-20G20-35kts this morning, steadily tapering off through the afternoon to around 5-10kts for the overnight.

ARX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WI...Winter Weather Advisory until 9 AM CST this morning for WIZ029- 033-034. Winter Storm Warning until 9 AM CST this morning for WIZ041- 053>055-061. Winter Storm Warning until noon CST today for WIZ042>044. MN...Winter Weather Advisory until 9 AM CST this morning for MNZ088- 095. Winter Storm Warning until 9 AM CST this morning for MNZ096. IA...Winter Weather Advisory until 9 AM CST this morning for IAZ008. Winter Storm Warning until 9 AM CST this morning for IAZ009>011-018-019-029-030.