SUMMARY:
The first winter storm of the season is hitting Northeast Wisconsin. This potent storm system is packing heavy and accumulating snow along with gusty winds. This combination will make for difficult and even dangerous travel through tonight.
WARNINGS & ADVISORIES
WINTER STORM WARNINGS are in effect for the entire viewing area and will continue until 6 AM Tuesday.
TIMING & IMPACTS:
The snow will continue through the evening hours, heavy at times. Snowfall rates could push 1" per hour at times. We could also see some periods of sleet, mainly in our far southern counties. For areas that do have a period of sleet, the snow totals will be less. The heaviest snow should wrap up later tonight. Accumulating snow should end soon after that with just lingering snow showers and flurries continuing into Tuesday.
Not only will we have to contend with the snow and sleet, but we'll also be dealing with some very strong winds Monday afternoon and evening. Winds will be out of the east-northeast sustained between 20 to 35 mph with wind gusts between 40-50 mph at times. This combination of snow and wind will lead to poor and dangerous road conditions and extremely low visibility. The best idea is not travel at all tonight.
SNOWFALL TOTALS:
A large swath of 6-12" of snow will fall across northeast Wisconsin. Some locally higher amounts are possible for some communities. Lesser amounts to the south where we've seen some mixing in of sleet with the snow. Regardless, we are talking about significant snow totals here for everyone, along with blowing and drifting snow due gusty east-northeast winds. It's going to make for a travel mess tonight with impacts even into tomorrow morning.
Snow showers and flurries linger through the day on Tuesday with highs around freezing. More snow showers and flurries are possible on Wednesday but little accumulation is expected.
Stay up to date on the forecast for this storm on-air and online. Look for updates on social media as well including the NBC26 Facebook and Twitter pages. You can also follow our meteorologists on twitter: @CameronMoreland @matthoffmanwx @StephanieMeadWX
