Unusual December Rainstorm Swells Western Wisconsin Rivers

An unusual, mid-December rain storm is causing flood warnings in Western Wisconsin.

Dan Jones, a Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in La Crosse, said a low pressure system from the Great Plains passed through Wisconsin early Monday morning dropping plenty of heavy rains around Jackson, Monroe and Vernon Counties.

“One of our volunteer observers recorded 5.96 (inches) down there in Viroqua,” Jones said. “So, I would say overall in southwest Wisconsin we pretty much saw anywhere from three to six inches of precipitation.”

According to Jones, December flooding is normally brought on by ice jams in rivers.

“This is unusual because it was more of a rain event where we basically had no snow on the ground at all and we produced enough rain for the river levels to rise above flood stage in some of our major tributaries of the Mississippi,” he said.

The National Weather Service anticipates only minor impacts from flooding on parts of the Black, Wisconsin, Kickapoo and Turkey Rivers.