Here is a look at the 13News forecast map that we showed Monday and Tuesday evening along with the spectacular snowfall reports from Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin today. Hardest hit areas include (but are not limited to) Carroll , Stephenson, Green, and Rock Counties. There were a few 20 inch reports around Beloit and Evansville, Wisconsin. The official snowfall total for the Chicago/Rockford Int'l Airport was 10.0 inches. However, we received 14.0 inches here at the WREX studios in western Winnebago County and over 13.0 inches within the city of Rockford. The Chicagoland area was spared and received little/no snow (except for the northwest suburbs where 7.7 inches of snow fell over Woodstock through early evening).The drifting was immense. This afternoon, The Rock County Regional Airport registered a sustained wind of 49mph with gusts to 60! That caused a major problem on I-39/90 between Janesville and Madison. According to Gary Cannalte, Chief Meteorologist for WISC-TV (at 10:30pm) "Traffic now beginning to move westbound (northward) on I-39/90 after being at a standstill for almost 9 hours...National Guard and snowmobilers were helping out to get gas and supplies to stranded motorists. A couple of trucks were unable to make it up the grade, stopping traffic behind them. With traffic at a standstill, drifts were forming around cars...not a pretty scene! Now eastbound traffic is stalling. Roads described as treacherous in Rock County."
Was this a record-breaking snowfall? Officially for Rockford, no. According to the National Weather Service, the official report was 10.0 inches. Our weather team has had some difficulty with snowfall reports at RFD in recent events. It seems that a large 25 foot wall was built on the south side of the Public Safety Building a few years ago. It's caused a great impact on the accuracy of the snowfall depth because the wind around the wall causes the snow to blow around. The National Weather Service says "Hopefully we can resolve this quickly by sticking a CO-OP observer near this site."This day will be a memorable one for many of us. Personally, I've never had a 2+ hour commute in my life. Many of you know, WREX-TV is about five miles west of Meridian Road (where all of the other TV stations are). Auburn Road had drifts three feet high which were manageable since I was driving an Explorer 4X4. However a Pontiac Vibe was stuck in both lanes about a mile east of the station. I stopped as a pick-up got it back onto clear pavement, but in that 15 minutes, I got drifted in...right there in the middle of Auburn Road! I called a towing company and they got me out (after an hour). Just as I was mobile again, a Burritt Township plow came by. I don't know the plow driver's name, but he cleared a path from there to the station even though I don't think Auburn Road is in Burritt Township. God bless him!
If anyone else has any stories about this event (which seems to only have comparisons to the Christmas 2000 and 1978-1979 winter season) please post.
Finally, a word on the comments. Thank you very much to those who posted the vital information in a timely manner. The comments we received helped our weather team put this storm into perspective as we steered our newscasts along. The information was terrific and was well-received as we had over 7,000 page views. Let's hope we don't have any more events like this anytime soon...but if we do, thank you ahead of time!
Be safe in the morning, although it should be drastically improved. Some rural roads will still be snow-covered. And a reminder: we have some schools closed for Thursday already. Click on the "CloseWatch" link at wrex.com for the latest. Adam will have more in the morning LIVE from Coco-Key. That's if we can get our live truck out early in the morning!
Eric Sorensen
Chief Meteorologist
WREX-TV
5 comments:
Well, its only the 6th and we are already at 17.5" for the month. We may have a chance of reaching that Feb. record. :)
I, too, appreciate not only the awesome dedication from the WREX team, but the comments from all around the area to put this storm into perspective.
My parents live in Freeport and this storm also caused huge problems out that way. My dad works for the postal service and he said today was a nightmare, as many of his crew out in rural areas delivering mail were stuck in nasty situations with their vehicles.
I did notice our flag is still up on our mailbox, so the mail didn't make it here today. But, I have no problem with that. :)
I can confirm what Gary told you. It's been a mess up here in Madison. I'd never have made it to work if it hadn't been for our production supervisor and his pick-up.
As of our 10p news, 39/90 near US12/18 was slowly starting to move. I'm not sure about down near the Rock/Dane line. It was horrendous down there.
http://wkow.madison.com/News/index.php?ID=18757
-Adam
Well, eric, you and the weather team did a superb job as usual with keeping us up to date on this storm. And if I remember correctly, I believe it was last wed or thurs that you were starting to mention about a storm causing 5 inches in 3 hours on tuesday, and look what happened,over a foot of it. I, thankfully, stayed home from work, because after reading the posts on here from commenters about the road conditions, I decided at about 2:50 in the afternoon to call in to work and tell them I wasn't going to make it. I didnt want to take a chance at getting stuck somewhere. I have shoveled quite a bit today and now my lower back is feeling the effects of it.
Even though Rockford actually saw 13 inches, it will go down as 10? That doesn't do this storm justice!
Pretty amazing storm. About 12 inches here in Harvard but very difficult to measure accurately because of all the drifting.
Why does the snowfall total map, though, appear to differ greatly from the NWS map?
Post a Comment