May 10, 1990 - Southern Wisconsin Snowstorm

[Tim Gonyo]

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with finding information about this event on May 10, 1990 that dropped up to a foot of snow in Southern Wisconsin. I was 9 years old at the time and can't recall much but what I can recall is this event was not forecasted at all by any met.

I want to know where the cold air came from that allowed it to snow so late in the year... I know the week before it was in the 70s and the week after it was warm too, the snow only lasted a day or two. I'm looking for any information on this storm -- weather charts, surface maps, upper air maps, etc. Thanks!

[Matthew Havin]

http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/dwm/data_r...ather_maps.html (http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/dwm/data_rescue_daily_weather_maps.html)

...would be a good place to start for surface and 500mb charts for the week of the event. You have to install Dejaview, but it is small and plugs into Explorer. Does not work well with Firefox.

[Tim Gonyo]

According to that the low came out of Iowa and it was in the 80s the day before the snowstorm... there was no cold air surrounding the low, where the heck did the cold pool come from to produce that much snow?

[Robert Dewey]

Originally posted by Tim Gonyo
According to that the low came out of Iowa and it was in the 80s the day before the snowstorm... there was no cold air surrounding the low, where the heck did the cold pool come from to produce that much snow?

Hmm... I'm not sure, but that is VERY interesting.

[Tim Gonyo]

rdewey, did that storm hit you also? This is the perfect item for us to research until winter returns here.. LOL. 54 here yesterday.

[Robert Dewey]

Originally posted by Tim Gonyo
rdewey, did that storm hit you also? This is the perfect item for us to research until winter returns here.. LOL. 54 here yesterday.

If it did, I don't remember... I was -5 years old at the time LOL

BTW, I seen a fly outside today... I have NEVER seen bugs in January, even with the brief warm snaps that usually occur.

[Tim Gonyo]

Folks,

I'm getting the sinking sensation this 980 mb bomb that will hit Wisconsin in 42 hours could replay 5/10/1990.

*bites this fingernails*

[Alex Lamers]

Well I have already talked with you about this Tim, but I am real skeptical of snow mixing in much less complete and utter snow precip type. All the soundings I've looked at seem to favor a R/S mix at best and only for a couple hours at the end of the event...but mostly rain for the bulk of the event. GFS is overdramatizing the dynamical cooling on the backside here. Even if the snow manages to overcome those hurdles it will have to manage to accumulate on >0C surfaces with >0C surface air temperature. There are so many negating factors for a snowstorm. Will we see snow mixing in? possibly. Will it have any major impact? nope...Not likely so I'm thinking a snowstorm is out of the realm of possibility at this point.

I'm more concerned about the winds here. BUFR NAM profile for Milwaukee, WI shows 69 knot sustained winds just below the inversion. Even factoring in for crappy momentum transfer we could still see some nice gusts of severe strength perhaps. NWSFOs biting on Wind Advisories but I think we could see some people reach High Wind Warning criteria...we shall see how things evolve tonight.

In any event its going to be an absolutely crappy mess. Heavy rain and winds over 40 MPH = horrible road conditions with significantly reduced visbiilities for drivers. Could see some fog induced by rain-cooled air mass. All in all its a stay-at-home kind of day.

[Robert Dewey]

A late season snowstorm with significant snow (>8 inches) would be one hell of a sight to see, especially with the foliage the way it is. It would probably be one of the most photogenic weather-related scenes possible, right up there with the Mulvane shots (IMHO obviously, as we have some people here that are incapable of enjoying such beauty, lol).