Northern Wisconsin is getting hit with more snow on Wednesday, with a winter storm warning in effect for much of far northern Wisconsin through Thursday morning.
Mike Stewart, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth, says 12 to 14 inches of snow is expected to fall in northwest Wisconsin from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning. He says there will be wind, as well.
“That’s really what is really going to make this bad,” said Stewart. “The winds are going to start picking up. They are picking up in Minnesota and that will spread across Wisconsin this afternoon and this evening.”
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Stewart says that winds of 30 to 40 miles per hour are expected, which in combination with the snowfall will make travel difficult.
This is the third snow storm in less than three weeks for the area. Thomas Toepfer, the Bayfield County Highway Commissioner, says that overall it’s been a rough winter – on his snow plow drivers, on his budget, and on the roads.
“We have frost tubes that record how deep the frost goes in the road, and back in February we maxed those out at 83 inches of frost. And it was still getting cold so we were well into the 7 to 8 foot of frost. We’ve seen problems on our roads as far as cracking, as far as heaving, that we haven’t really seen before.”
Ashland County Highway Commissioner Emmer Shields said the number of storms is taking a toll on his plows.
“We’ve gone through more fuel and more blades and cutting edges and salt and salt fans than we have in a long, long time,” said Shields.
And Shields says it’s made the hard life of his snow plow operators extra tough this winter. But now that it’s April, he gives them a little pep talk.
“Basically I tell them the same thing every time: This is the last one,” said Shields. “That’s about all we can do: We hope it’s the last one.”
The National Weather Service says that spring is expected to finally arrive this weekend, when temperatures in northern Wisconsin will be in the 40s and 50s. More temperatures in the 50s are forecasted for next week.
Update: This story was updated with new information at 3:50 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16.
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