3/15-3/16 Winter Storm

[michsnowfreak]

53 minutes ago, cyclone77 said:

Probably the hardest snow event I've ever attempted to measure.  A lot of areas of the yard are completely scoured free of snow, with other areas buried 1-3ft with snow drifts.  Still in heavy snow right now with this narrow band.  Came up with an average of 6.3", but the real amount is likely higher than that.  A lot of granulation going on at ground level with these steady 40+mph winds blowing in off of the farm fields.  Definitely looks like a legit blizzard out there this morning.

Im super jealous of this entire storm (well, the snow aspect lol)...but I am happy for you. This is WELL deserved and overdue. Enjoy!

Here, we started with a T of snow yesterday morning, temps spiked to 70F (I think I mayve stayed in 60s), we got 0.06" of rain overnight and now temp is rapidly dropping with strong winds. Hoping for snow squalls later.

[madwx]

58 minutes ago, cyclone77 said:

Probably the hardest snow event I've ever attempted to measure.  A lot of areas of the yard are completely scoured free of snow, with other areas buried 1-3ft with snow drifts.  Still in heavy snow right now with this narrow band.  Came up with an average of 6.3", but the real amount is likely higher than that.  A lot of granulation going on at ground level with these steady 40+mph winds blowing in off of the farm fields.  Definitely looks like a legit blizzard out there this morning.

Same. Have no idea what we’ve really gotten so far. Many areas bare. Many areas with 2+ foot drifts.  Would guess just below 10” so far.  But it’s just that - a guess

 

overall intense storm, especially with the unexpected ice/sleet yesterday and very strong winds.

 

 

expecting snow to last until noon and then winds will slowly die down after that 

[SchaumburgStormer]

Obviously measuring will be a nightmare, but guessing 4-5" IMBY. Pretty legit in the open areas with wind whipped snow. 

[josh_4184]

20 minutes ago, Imneversatisfied said:

Here in Alpena we got a second once in a century ice storm just like last March. Got 4" of drifted cement Sunday morning,then over .5" of ice accumulation. Lost power at 5 am after my neighbor's tree fell on the line and then watched 4 transformers blow. 65 percent of town has no power. Trees snapping constantly. 40 mph winds and 1" of snow forecasted tonight will be a kick in the nuts! 

That sucks man, we lucked out ended up with 10-12" of concrete again which I will gladly take. Looks like its a little less ice than last year but still a mess. Hope you get your power back soon, last year I was out for over 10 days.

[cmillzz]

13 hours ago, Sciascia said:

 

Kind of a yikes here by the Euro, no idea why it was so off-base with this event (though some other models were pretty bad too).

[OrdIowPitMsp]

14-16” reports down in Red Wing where my ski hill is. Think I’ll “work from home” today…

[Imneversatisfied]

15 minutes ago, josh_4184 said:

That sucks man, we lucked out ended up with 10-12" of concrete again which I will gladly take. Looks like its a little less ice than last year but still a mess. Hope you get your power back soon, last year I was out for over 10 days.

I think this year it's worse here. Here was a year ago.

[Powerball]

As nice of a surprise as it was fot folks in NW Illinois and Southern WI, this was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime blizzard for many areas on Northern MI / WI...

Some areas along the noth shore of Lake Michigan are well over 2 feet and might even push 3 feet, virtually all synoptic too...

[josh_4184]

25 minutes ago, Imneversatisfied said:

I think this year it's worse here. Here was a year ago.

How much ice did you get last year, we got about 1.2 - 1.5" imby in last years ice storm.

[McHenrySnow]

3.5” of very heavy wet snow. 

[cutlew]

14-16” reports down in Red Wing where my ski hill is. Think I’ll “work from home” today…

Even with the heavy band missing the metro has a solid 8-14” from north to south. No records breaking like in WI but the best winter storm for the area in 3 years.

[cyclone77]

The end of the drive keeps getting snow deposited from plows that keep going past. Snow keeps drifting across the road just to the north where there's an open field to the west.  Snow blower (and me lol) getting a good workout.

[hawkeye_wx]

I took ~90 measurements in a grid across my backyard and came up with 3.0", which seems about right considering the drifts and scoured areas.  The gauge caught 0.40", which means the ratio is terrible, as it always is when the wind is strong.  The kuchera map predicted a ratio well above 10.

This stuff was a major pain to clean up.  It's dense, with a layer of either wet snow or ice on the bottom.  

[Cary67]

2 hours ago, SchaumburgStormer said:

Obviously measuring will be a nightmare, but guessing 4-5" IMBY. Pretty legit in the open areas with wind whipped snow. 

That's surprising. I'm guessing 2 maybe 3" here but will wait to see snow totals around the area.

[cutlew]

I took ~90 measurements in a grid across my backyard and came up with 3.0", which seems about right considering the drifts and scoured areas.  The gauge caught 0.40", which means the ratio is terrible, as it always is when the wind is strong.  The kuchera map predicted a ratio well above 10.
This stuff was a major pain to clean up.  It's dense, with a layer of either wet snow or ice on the bottom.  

That’s some dedication. My wife laughed at me for doing like 10 measurements just in one line across the yard

[Chicago Storm]

Kind of a yikes here by the Euro, no idea why it was so off-base with this event (though some other models were pretty bad too).

It wasn’t off based, and did the best within 18-24 hours. Sniffed out the south trend and latched on to it.

[SchaumburgStormer]

34 minutes ago, cyclone77 said:

The end of the drive keeps getting snow deposited from plows that keep going past. Snow keeps drifting across the road just to the north where there's an open field to the west.  Snow blower (and me lol) getting a good workout.

It’s a work from home day for me, so I am wearing athletic shorts and a sweatshirt and told the wife to “gun it good” to get through the end of the driveway, lol! 

[SchaumburgStormer]

27 minutes ago, Cary67 said:

That's surprising. I'm guessing 2 maybe 3" here but will wait to see snow totals around the area.

#2 event on the season. 

[Chicago WX]

These “squalls” this morning are legit. Sky gets dark as they roll through, and dump for 15 minutes at a time. Then it gets light. Rinse and repeat every 30 minutes.

[cyclone77]

6 minutes ago, Chicago WX said:

These “squalls” this morning are legit. Sky gets dark as they roll through, and dump for 15 minutes at a time. Then it gets light. Rinse and repeat every 30 minutes.

A different type of frozen object falling from the sky this week eh?

[MJO812]

How much has fallen in Marquette ?

[beavis1729]

10 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

How much has fallen in Marquette ?

Not sure about Marquette, but the highest totals I've seen in WI are 33.2" in Sturgeon Bay and 30.7" in Wausau.

Edit: interesting comment on SLRs from NWS Marquette, at least as of 2:40am this morning...keeping in mind that 12-18" more was expected after that.

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 240 AM EDT Mon Mar 16 2026

The focus of the forecast discussion remains on the ongoing record-
breaking blizzard impacting the Upper Great Lakes through tonight.
The prolonged nature of up to hurricane-force winds and quickly
accumulating, blowing, and drifting snow continue to make travel
conditions treacherous and potentially life-threatening as well. In
addition to travel impacts, the winds have caused some power outages
and as the winds increase, more are likely to result. Travel should
be restricted to just emergencies today as even emergency vehicles
will struggle to navigate the roads at times!

Evening KMQT radar returns show a shield of reflectivity with some
zones of 30-40 dBZ mixed in, indicating snow rates in excess of
1"/hr ongoing. 

Snow totals have been slightly under expected so far
today at WFO MQT despite the QPF being on-target or even above-
forecast. This is due to snow ratios being driven down to 6:1, which
is at least a factor of 3 less than the NBM and a factor of two less
than other traditional snow ratio forecasting techniques. A number
of reasons partially explain it, between strong upper winds
fracturing dendrites into a more compact shape, snow compaction
upon being blown/drifted around, and a wetter snow than
expected, though the sheer magnitude of how low the snow ratios
fell is surprising. 

RAP analysis shows a negatively tilting
trough centered over MN/IA supporting a surface low of 991mb
over Valparaiso, IN. Stacked ridging over the West Coast is
supporting a surface high of 1037 mb over Rapid City. The
resulting pressure gradient over the UP is around 1003 mb along
the Lake MI shores and around 1018mb by Isle Royale, a 15 mb
gradient across Upper Michigan alone, helping drive the strong
winds.

[michsnowfreak]

11 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

How much has fallen in Marquette ?

14-24" in marquette but 30" in ishpheming near marquette. 

[weatherbo]

Hi all, checking in from rural Marquette County.  Have received 30-35" on top of the 44"that was otg when this started.  Depth between 60-70".  Another foot possible.  
The snow has bridged to the roof.  

 

[SchaumburgStormer]

2 minutes ago, weatherbo said:

Hi all, checking in from rural Marquette County.  Have received 30-35" on top of the 44"that was otg when this started.  Depth between 60-70".  Another foot possible.  
The snow has bridged to the roof.  

 

This is awesome.
 

But also, fuck that. 

[DocATL]

Right around 2 inches of cement…cool. 62° Friday, LFG.

[roardog]

6 minutes ago, weatherbo said:

Here's a few more. 

I guess you better get your lawnmower ready for the first mow on the 4th of July this year.

[Tim from Springfield, IL]

On 3/13/2026 at 6:31 PM, McHenrySnow said:

3. If 1 or 2 happens, viewers will go apeshit on Facebook. 

 

On 3/13/2026 at 6:20 PM, Tim from Springfield, IL said:

I haven't check to see if it's been shared here yet, but on the warm side of this system there is already an SPC Day 3 ENH risk in this sub for SW IN up to Indy, and SE IL, with slight for much of IL up to lower MI.

Storm Prediction Center Mar 13, 2026 1930 UTC Day 3 Severe Thunderstorm Outlook

I am actually going to go on a limb and predict that these two TV weather-related coverage events occur Sunday night:

1. At least one CBS affiliate in the Slight or Enhanced area bumps the entire CBS NCAA Men's Selection Show for wall-to-wall weather; and
2. At least one ABC affiliate in the risk area bumps part or even all of the Oscars Sunday night for wall-to-wall weather and warnings coverage.

#2 happened in the Peoria-Bloomington DMA, whose ABC affiliate has been on a 25.2 subchannel of Gray-owned heritage NBC station WEEK-25.1 for nearly the past decade (when WHOI-19 lost the affiliation to 25.2 after 63 years).  Both the NBC NBA game on 25.1 and the ABC Oscar telecast on 25.2 were bumped partially for weather coverage last night--and many viewers were unhappy, to say it nicely.

This was the same TV station that had the developing Washington F4 tornado on 11/17/2013 literally overhead (while they were on the air) as it was moving toward that city after touching down in Pekin.

Here's a FB post from last night's on-duty meteorologist (Brian Walder) about the situation: https://www.facebook.com/BrianWalder25News/posts/pfbid02pPgHAhVPduR39JCQT53nms1mQMt7ztLSv2QzMN8LB8k1D31sEycS1y5EXGX2ZFz9l

Also, I didn't watch TV last night but I have seen FB reports that at least the early part of the Oscars was also bumped by my DMA's ABC stations (WICS-20.1 Springfield, also relayed on WICD-15.1 Champaign).  Maybe during the warnings occurred during the red carpet show.  But later all wall-to-wall weather coverage until at least the storms entered Indiana was shifted only to their "Fox Illinois" sister stations (WRSP-55.1 Springfield/WCCU-27.1 Urbana).

And our market has had an entire awards show before basically wiped out due to wall-to-wall weather before: June 14, 2015's Tony Awards broadcast on CBS was bumped entirely on our local affiliate (WCIA-3.1 Champaign/WCIX-49.2 Springfield) due to wall-to-wall weather threatening at least the Champaign area.  Springfield viewers were not happy, to put it lightly.