November 20-21 Heavy Snow Event (Updated 11/23)

November 20-21 Heavy Snow Event

Snow ended late in the afternoon of the 21st over far southeast Wisconsin, leaving behind impressive snow totals for any winter time event, much less one that occurs in November. Locations south of a Lone Rock, Madison to Milwaukee line saw the heaviest snow, with totals, ranging from 8 inches to 18 inches, with the highest amounts in far South Central Wisconsin near the Illinois border.

Eighteen inches of snow was reported in Beloit, 17 inches near Footville in western Rock County, 16 inches in Monroe in Green County and 13 inches in Darlington in Lafayette County as well as Newark in southwest Rock County. The immediate Madison and Milwaukee areas both received snowfall mostly in the 4 to 7 inch range.

The below image depicts total snowfall across South Central and Southeast Wisconsin based on reports from numerous sources, including public reports.

Thank you to everyone who submitted their snowfall total reports.

You may be wondering how often we see snowfalls of this amount during the late fall. We ran a search of 2-day snow accumulations (capturing a snowfall that might cross from one day into the next) from October 15 to Nov 21st.

The two-day snow totals ending on Saturday, November 21st were the second highest in Milwaukee and the tenth highest in Madison for this time period. Here is a historical look back at other snow events we've had, including where this year's event fits into the rankings.

Historical Two Day Snowfalls From October 15 - November 21
Milwaukee			Madison
Rank	Amount (inches)	Ending Date	Rank	Amount (inches)	Ending Date
1	14.6	11/06/1896	1	10.5	11/09/1985
2	6.9	11/21/2015	2	7.6	11/08/1921
3	6.3	10/20/1989	3	6.4	11/19/1986
4	6.1	11/10/1926	4	5.5	11/18/1926
5	6.1	11/08/1925	5	4.8	11/04/1951
6	4.5	11/13/1894	6	4.6	11/18/1892
7	4.3	11/07/1951	7	4.5	11/07/1900
8	4.1	11/20/1895	8	4.4	11/11/1995
9	4.0	10/27/1976	9	4.2	11/21/1945
10	4.0	11/18/1926	10	4.1	11/21/2015

Here are some average/earliest/latest snowfall statistics for Milwaukee and Madison

Herzog/Davis/Miller/Kavinsky/McMahon