textproduct: La Crosse

KEY MESSAGES

- Dangerous and historic winter storm continues this evening through the overnight.

- Later this afternoon and into the early evening everyone will see more snow and their winds increase. Sustained northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts of 40 to 55 mph will be possible during this time. This will result in blizzard conditions across the forecast area through the overnight.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 259 PM CDT Sun Mar 15 2026

Today-Monday: Dangerous Winter Storm Continues into Monday

There was quite a bit of snow this morning for portions of southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin. From northern Olmsted county over to southern Jackson county, there is a wide swath of 12 to 20 inches of snow. Some localized areas have actually seen a little over 20 inches in these areas! There is currently a break in the snow for the next 1 to 4 hours or so but recent radar trends from KDMX shows snow filling in for central and northern Iowa and KMPX shows the slowly moving deformation band approaching southeastern Minnesota. As a result, snow will fill in to the rest of the CWA during the late afternoon and into the evening. Just like how the main snow band shifted south a couple of counties, there is still some uncertainty on how much more snow we will get.

Looking at the low and mid level frontogenesis, there is quite a bit of lift going on as the surface low deepens just to our southeast. This frontogenesis shifts over our area later this afternoon and slowly moves through the forecast area. Normally this much lift in the DGZ would indicate good accumulation rates, however the stronger winds will break apart the better dendrites. Winds will begin to pick up later this afternoon and evening as the low deepens, resulting in sustained northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts of 40 to 55 mph. These stronger winds will continue through the overnight and gradually diminish during the late morning and the mid afternoon. Usually snow ratios with this setup are higher, more in the 20:1 or so range, however with the wind speed, we are forecasting snow ratios more in the 13 to 15:1 range. These are our best guess ratios and depending on how strong the winds are these ratios could very well change. How much these factors interact will help in determining how much more snow we end up getting. Regardless of the exact snow amounts, the strong winds will result in blizzard or near blizzard conditions over the area during the late afternoon through the overnight. Our current forecasted snow amounts for southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa are between 3 and 6 inches while north central Wisconsin is between 3 and 8 inches and southwest into central Wisconsin is between 5 and 12 inches.

Temperatures over the next 36 hours will be the coldest temperatures we have felt in a little while. Low temperatures tonight drop into the single digits and low teens and coupling that with the stronger winds, feels like temperatures for Monday morning will be down in the single digits to teens below zero. Mondays high temperatures only get into the teens to low 20s which are 20 to 25 degrees below normal. By Monday night, temperatures dip back down from near 0F to the single digits below zero. Winds really diminish Monday night and skies clear up after midnight, meaning that low temperatures could end up being cooler than forecasted. There is still around 5 to 10 mph of wind to compete with, so this will be something to monitor.

Tuesday-Wednesday: Light Snow Chance

While remaining in northwest flow, another clipper moves through the area, increasing snow chances. This will be quick hitter and drop only 1 to 2 inches of snow with it. The cold weather continues for Tuesday as highs are only in the low 20s and low temperatures are in low to mid teens.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z TUESDAY/

Issued at 701 PM CDT Sun Mar 15 2026

Snow and blowing snow will continue through Monday morning at both the RST/LSE taf sites. IFR conditions are expected through Monday morning. As the snow and winds taper off Monday afternoon there will be some improvement into MVFR.

ARX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WI...Blizzard Warning until 7 AM CDT Monday for WIZ017-029-032>034. Blizzard Warning until 1 PM CDT Monday for WIZ041>044-053>055- 061. MN...Blizzard Warning until 7 AM CDT Monday for MNZ079-086>088- 094>096. IA...Blizzard Warning until 7 AM CDT Monday for IAZ008>011-018-019- 029-030.