The calendar says April, but Old Man Winter is still making his presence known nearly four weeks after the official start of spring. A literal perfect storm hit Wisconsin and Minnesota this past weekend, coming at a time when some farmers were usually starting to get into the fields. Blizzard Evelyn dumped as much as two feet of snow throughout the upper Midwest.
Over the weekend, blizzard warnings stretched from southwestern Nebraska to Michigan, blanketing fields with inches of snow. The heavy snow and strong winds made roads nearly impossible to navigate. Drifting was significant as well. Normally snow drifts are relatively easy to manage, but with the wet, heavy nature of this snow made any drift dangerous if it sat on any building structure. Strong wind and heavy snow closed major highways in parts of South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. Several dairies in Wisconsin will be repairing barn roofs as a result.
Reports show better weather for the middle of the week, with freezing rain and snow forecast for the weekend.