Madison, Wisconsin Big Snow of Dec. 19-20

Madison, Wisconsin Big Snow of Dec. 19-20

Madison, Wisconsin endured (and many enjoyed!) its fourth greatest 24-hour snowfall on record this past Tuesday-Wednesday, December 19-20 with 15.2”. Other sites in southern Wisconsin picked up 20” of snow, the highest amounts for winter storm ‘Draco’ since it swung out of Colorado earlier in the week.



The path of winter storm ‘Draco’ and its central pressure in millibars (i.e. 82=982 mb). Map from NWS-Milwaukee office.

Madison, the state capital of Wisconsin, has maintained official temperature weather records since 1869 and snowfall records since 1883, one of the longest POR’s (period of record) for such of any U.S. city. So it was quite an accomplishment this week to have registered its 4th greatest 24-hour snowfall on Wednesday and Thursday with a 15.2” storm total. 1.9” fell on Wednesday evening between 8 pm and midnight, and then an additional 13.3” on Thursday until the snowfall ended around 6 pm. The 13.3” on Wednesday was the 2nd greatest calendar total on record (a fairly meaningless statistic since storms do not conveniently occur on single calendar day).



A list of the calendar-day greatest snowfalls recorded in Madison. Table from NWS-Milwaukee office.

Here are the top five greatest 24-hour snowfalls in Madison history:

1) 17.3” on December 3, 1990 (also the calendar day record)

2) 16.1” on December 10-11, 1970

3) 15.4” on February 22-23, 1994

4) 15.2” on December 19-20, 2012

5) 14.5” on March 18-19, 1971

The measurements have been made at Madison’s Truax Field (airport) located about 4 miles northeast of the Capitol Building downtown. Other locations in the Madison area recorded up to 20” (at the WISC-TV studio 7 miles SW of the Capitol) and 19.5” in Middleton, a suburb about 5 miles west of the Capitol. Juneau, in Dodge County, 40 miles northeast of Madison, reported the highest storm total in the state or at any location east of the Rockies with a 20.1” measurement. Another 20” report came from near the town of Mt. Vernon about 20 miles SW of Madison.



A snow map for south-central and southeastern Wisconsin. The SE corner of the state received relatively light accumulations since most of the precipitation fell as rain. Milwaukee picked up 2.23” of precipitation but just 2” of snow. Map from NWS-Milwaukee office.

The heavy wet snow combined with winds gusting to 45 mph caused significant tree damage and power outages across the south-central portion of the state.



This 20”-tall Buddha head sits serenely under about 11” of snow early on Wednesday morning in a Madison residents backyard. Photo by Danny Kahrs.

I will be away for the Christmas Holiday until December 28th. Happy holidays to all!

Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian