The state experienced some pretty extreme weather in 2007, with a lot of highs and lows. The far northern part of Wisconsin tops the list for most snowfall from this past winter, with more than 14 feet of it!
"We have extremes in the state. In the snow department, Upson had the most snow last winter with 175.8 inches up there in Iron County. On the other hand, Menomonie in Dunn County only had 29 inches. So there are some holes, some spots, in the snow map, if you will."
Rusty Kapela, Meteorologist with the National Weather Service says this December has been quite a month, with more ice storms than we normally get in the Badger State.
"Snow fall, ice storms, my gosh! December has been snowy, well above normal. We've had two ice storms. Normally we don't get an ice storm in Wisconsin … oh about once every three years, and here we've had two ice storms in one month."
Also, Port Edwards saw a 5.5 inch hailstone on June 7th, the second largest in Wisconsin weather history. As for extreme temperatures, Gurney in Iron County takes the cake for the coldest, recording a whopping 35-degrees below zero on February 6th and 7th. On the other end of the temp gauge, most of the state sweltered on July 8th with temps in the upper 90s, but Granstburg and Crivitz tie for hottest with 99 degrees.
We had 18 tornadoes last year, however that's three below normal. The record was set in 2005, when we had 62 tornadoes for the year. Kapela says more training and technology in the weather field have helped to forecast and prevent deaths. Also, he credits the combined effort of emergency management, law enforcement, fire fighters, ham radio operators, and severe weather spotters across the state.
AUDIO: Jackie Johnson report (1:48 MP3)
