1/13/12 – Most of Wisconsin got 3-to-6 inches of snow yesterday and last night. But over two-feet of lake effect snow hit parts of Iron County near Lake Superior. According to the National Weather Service, Gile had 29 inches as of two o’clock this morning – and it was still coming down. Six inches fell there in a five-hour period, and there was lots of blowing and drifting. Montreal in Iron County had 16 inches as of six o’clock. Hurley had 10 inches by the middle of last night. Elsewhere in Wisconsin, the south and the Fox Valley seemed to be the hardest hit, with 3-to-4 inch totals reported in most other parts of the Badger State. By 8pm last night Beaver Dam had 5.5-inches while West Bend picked up 4.5-inches. A couple miles south of Watertown got 4-inches and weather spotter near Oconomowoc reported 6-inches had fallen there. And while the snow has moved out some bitter cold wind chills are being seen this morning. At 6am it was 15-degrees in Beaver Dam but it felt more like 6-degrees with wind chill. Brownsville had 17-degrees but with winds gusting to 20-miles an hour it felt more like 5-above. And in Columbus it was 15-degrees with a wind chill of just 1-degree above zero.
Meanwhile, as is usually the case with the first major storm of the season, the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department and other local authorities were dealing with accidents and runoffs for most of the day yesterday. According to department records, from the time the snow began yesterday around 8am there were three accidents with injuries, eight other accidents, and more than 20-runoffs. One of the accident occurred just before 10-am on Highway 26 at Horn Road. Authorities say a 24-year-old man lost control of his vehicle and struck a culvert. He was taken to the hospital by Watertown EMS. The other significant accident reported by authorities happened at Highway 151 and 33 in Beaver Dam just before noon. A disabled semi was parked on the off-ramp and a vehicle driven by a 20-year-old woman struck it from behind. She was also taken to the hospital.
