textproduct: La Crosse

KEY MESSAGES

- Record high temperatures possible today.

- Strong to severe weather may be possible tonight. All severe weather threats (hail, damaging winds, and isolated tornadoes) will be possible. There is a slight (2 out of 5 risk) just to the northwest of our area. Timing still looks to be from 6 to 10 pm.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 1247 AM CDT Wed Oct 28 2026

An upper level extratropical cyclone seen lifting north-northeast on GOES water vapor imagery loops has begun a more meridional advection before it is expected to slide east across the International Border with Minnesota, dragging an appendage of mid level vorticity advection across the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Resultant widespread precipitation chances increase from west to east from the late evening into the overnight hours.

Storm Chances Today:

Peak diurnal heating concurrent with location of strongest WAA precedent of the frontal boundary remains slightly upstream of the forecast area, keeping highest (50%) thunder probabilities upstream. Strongest low level winds raise higher severe threat in these areas, grazing the western parts of the local county warning area from southeast Minnesota into west-central Wisconsin. All hazard types will be possible based on long-skinny CAPE profiles resulting in a low CAPE, high Shear environment should storms be able to initialize in the less hospitable "October" airmass. Local forecast area will likely see storms, question of strength and intensity remains in question.

Warm Today:

The local airmass will be more resemblant of a late-September airmass with daytime high temperatures in the low to mid 70s, likely resulting in local climatological warm records being broken.

Precipitation Chances This Weekend & Early Next Week:

Persistently low confident long term forecast remains the trend as previous NBM PoPS early weekend have shunted south of the forecast area, with LREF agreement increasing for cyclogenesis farther south through the central CONUS. Therefore, higher PoPs now pushed into Monday through Wednesday instead of through the weekend in 24 hour ago forecast.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 607 AM CDT Wed Oct 28 2026

It will be primarily VFR today.

A cold front will move through the area tonight. There will be showers and storms along this line. The storms will affect KRST between 29.00z and 29.03z, and KLSE 29.03z and 29.06z. A few of these storms may be strong to severe between 28.23z and 29.04z along and west of the Mississippi River.

MVFR ceilings will move into the area in the wake of this front.

CLIMATE

Issued at 1247 AM CDT Wed Oct 28 2026

Record or near record temperatures Wednesday (Record/Forecast):

La Crosse, WI

Date High Temperature Warm Low Temperature ----- --------------- --------------- 10/28 75F (1945) / 73F 57F (1881) / 56F

Rochester, MN

Date High Temperature Warm Low Temperature ----- --------------- --------------- 10/28 73F (2024) / 70F 54F (1989) / 54F

ARX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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