Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
ABOUT 2 inches of precipitation in a 48-hour period created a creek along County D in Kimball, Wis., on Thursday afternoon. A total of 7.5 inches of snow was included in the mix in Ironwood, although some parts of the Gogebic Range received more.
By RALPH ANSAMI
Ironwood - The National Weather Service's predictions for the St. Patrick's day storm that hit the Gogebic Range were on target.
The Marquette office of the NWS had predicted from 5 to 15 inches of snow for Ironwood, and the 24-hour total to 7 a.m. Thursday in Ironwood amounted to 7.5 inches, with more arriving after that. All told, a 10-inch snow total for the storm was likely.
Gogebic Range residents were fortunate the 30 mph winds that had been predicted along Lake Superior never developed inland or the heavy snow mess would have been even worse.
Since Tuesday, Ironwood has received about 2 inches of precipitation, with .96 inch recorded for the 24-hour period to 7 a.m. Thursday and .82 inch of rain measured the day before.
Some schools began two hours late Thursday, while Wakefield-Marenisco and Ewen-Trout Creek canceled classes.
The first official day of spring is Sunday, but more cold weather is in the immediate forecast.
The sudden precipitation brought flooding throughout the area on side roads and in low areas.
The National Weather Service said about 2.5 inches of rain fell in the Ashland area between Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.
The Marengo River was close to flooding its banks and the Bad River at Wisconsin 169 in Mellen was also high, as the ground wasn't absorbing the rainfall.
Wisconsin 13, near Port Wing, was closed because of high water.
