A Blizzard Warning has been issued for SE Wisconsin, and that includes Kenosha. Sounds like we’re in for a wild ride. Here’s the latest on the warning.

URGENT – WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
331 PM CST MON JAN 31 2011

…BLIZZARD TAKING AIM AT SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN TUESDAY NIGHT…

.THREE DIFFERENT WEATHER FEATURES WILL COMBINE TO BRING EXTREME
SNOW TOTALS TO SOUTHERN WISCONSIN. LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS WILL
PERSIST INTO WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AS COLD NORTHEAST WINDS BLOW
ACROSS THE WARM WATERS OF LAKE MICHIGAN. AN INITIAL TROUGH OF LOW
PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE ENTIRE AREA INTO TUESDAY
BRINGING 4 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW WITH HIGHEST AMOUNTS NEAR LAKE
MICHIGAN.

A STRONGER LOW PRESSURE CENTER WILL GATHER STRENGTH AND MOISTURE
AND MOVE NORTHEAST FROM THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TUESDAY.
BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED FROM THE SHEBOYGAN AND JANESVILLE AREAS
ON EAST…AND MAY EXTEND AS FAR WEST AS THE FOND DU LAC…MADISON…
AND DARLINGTON AREAS. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS WITH THE SECOND
STORM WILL INCLUDE A LARGE AREA OF 6 TO 12 INCHES SOUTH OF A LINE
FROM THE WISCONSIN DELLS TO FOND DU LAC. 12 TO 15 INCHES ARE
FORECAST SOUTHEAST OF A LINE FROM JANESVILLE TO MILWAUKEE.

SIGNIFICANT BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE
POSSIBLE. THIS STORM IS SIMILAR TO THE EARLY JANUARY 1999 BLIZZARD…
WHICH PRODUCED 14 TO 18 INCHES OF SNOW IN SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN WITH
4 TO 8 FOOT DRIFTS EAST OF A LINE FROM FOND DU LAC TO JANESVILLE.

NEEDLESS TO SAY THIS COULD BE A HISTORIC BLIZZARD CAPABLE OF PARALYZING
PARTS OF SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN.

For a good summery of this upcoming storm check out this link from the Milwaukee NWS

Inclement Weather through Wednesday – Blizzard possible & Lakeshore Flooding!

I was out shooting some pictures of the waves on Lake Michigan this afternoon. They are beginning to build and so is the ice shelf. The temperature was 25 when I was out there and the winds were blowing a steady 25-30 mph, that puts the wind chill around 8. Any bare skin was getting cold real fast. Thankfully I didn’t have much showing. I wanted to shoot video, but my battery was dead because I left the camera on last time I used it, oops. I’ll try to get some pictures posted later today or tomorrow.

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Yesterday’s storm in the Sierra turned out to be a little bigger than originally forecast. Here are some storm totals from ski areas around the Sierra.

• Squaw Valley: 8″
• Kirkwood: 18 – 20″
• Sierra at Tahoe: 13″
• Bear Valley: 10″
• Mammoth Mtn: 12 – 16″
• China Peak: 8 – 10″

Unfortunately this was a one time hit for the mountains. The current models have no storms for at least the next 10 days. It does look like a change in the pattern may happen around the second week of Feb. and some storms could come in. We’ll have to wait and see though. Until then, get out and enjoy the Sierra sun and snow!

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I think this graphic says it all. Big storm coming. We live in the red section.

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It’s getting very interesting around here. The storm that is currently in the Sierra Nevada is going to be heading our way in the coming days. On Tuesday it’s forecast to explode over the middle of the country and if the forecast models keep trending the way they currently are, SE Wisconsin is going to get hammered.

Because of that, the NWS now has us under a Blizzard Watch for Tuesday and Wednesday. The current forecast has us possibly receiving two feet of snow along with north-east winds 30-40 mph! The lake shore counties are going to catch the brunt of it. This is a big one for us!

Normally I would be ecstatic about this storm, but this time I’m a little concerned because Lynne and I have a flight out of Milwaukee to catch on Thursday morning (More about that later). I’m still pretty excited, but I don’t want any flight delays. The storm should be out of here by Thursday morning, but who knows what kind of mess it’s going to cause with air traffic.

I’ll be doing a lot of updating on this storm this week, so stay tuned :-)

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