Snowstorm Bears Down On Northern Wisconsin, Creating Problem For Major Tourism Events

Tourists Traveling To American Birkebeiner, Apostle Islands Ice Caves Could Face Whiteout Conditions

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Schools in far northern Wisconsin are already cancelling Thursday classes as a fierce winter storm approaches. The storm will make travel complicated on one of the biggest tourism days of the winter.

From Eau Claire northward, 12 to 15 inches of snow and winds of 30 to 40 miles per hour will bring blizzard conditions at times to the northern half of the state. National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Tentinger in Duluth says it will start out dicey on Thursday morning, and eventually some roads will be impassable into Friday.

“Probably by late afternoon Thursday evening, it’ll probably be dangerous to travel,” said Tentinger. “Then going into Friday morning, the heavy snow that will be on the ground will blow around, and there will be some drifting and potentially whiteout conditions.”

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Drifts could be as high as cars in some places.

Wisconsin Department of Transportation spokesperson Chris Ouellette said they’re warning tourists heading for the Apostle Islands ice caves or the American Birkebeiner cross-country race in Cable that conditions will be dangerous Thursday into Friday.

“One of our concerns is not so much the heavy snowfall during the day, but the high winds that will be moving in after that creating the whiteout – the blizzard-like conditions.”

Ouellette says it would be a good idea to have a place to stay before you leave.

We know that people come from all over the world … for the Birkebeiner,” said Ouellette. “You may fly into Minneapolis or Milwaukee, and the conditions there may be just fine. They might just be getting rain. But as you travel further north, you might be getting into a blizzard.”

The Birkebeiner is a three-day event starting Thursday, but the race itself is Saturday.