Wisconsin
Snow storm blowing through Wisconsin causing 'extremely hazardous' travel conditions
A powerful winter storm is battering Wisconsin, making its way through the north central part of the United States.
The Badger State is under a winter storm warning Friday into Saturday, with the snowstorm to be followed by blistering cold. The National Weather Service says most of the state should see between 7 and 15 inches of snow. Winds across the state are expected to vary between 35 mph to 50 mph.
Several Wisconsin municipalities, including at least the cities of Madison, Green Bay and Oshkosh, declared snow emergencies on Friday.
Marcia Cronce, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Milwaukee/Sullivan office, said Wisconsin is experiencing a “high-impact winter storm” moving up from Missouri across the southern tip of Lake Michigan and then to Lake Huron.
“We’re going to be on the northwest edge of that low pressure track,” she said. “That area is favorable for periods of heavy snow and strong winds with this intense system.”
Cronce said blowing snow is expected to create low visibility in much of the state, making travel “extremely hazardous.”
A blizzard warning has also been issued for the Fox Valley and lakeshore areas of northeast Wisconsin from 3 p.m. on Friday through noon on Saturday.
Cronce said areas under a blizzard warning are likely to experience whiteout conditions on the roads.
Wisconsin State Patrol Sgt. Dan Diedrich said residents should stay off the streets as much as possible during the storm. If individuals must travel, he said they should take it slow, limit distractions, give themselves extra time to get to their destination and provide extra stopping distance.
“The speed limit is probably not appropriate under any circumstances,” Diedrich said. “The biggest thing is just knowing the limitations of the vehicle that you’re driving. Just because you have four-wheel drive doesn’t mean that speed limit is necessarily appropriate.”
Storm leaves many without power
We Energies reported over 26,000 customers in southeastern Wisconsin were without power as of 3 p.m. Friday.
Alison Trouy, a spokesperson for the utility, said the outages were mainly caused by heavy snow weighing down tree limbs, causing them to come into contact with equipment. Others have been caused by vehicles losing control on slippery roads and slamming into equipment.
She said We Energies has hundreds of crews working to restore power to customers as quickly as possible.
“So far this morning, we’ve already restored power to thousands of people and we’re not going to stop until every last customer has their lights back on,” she said. “It’s challenging conditions for our crew — they can only go as fast as road conditions will allow.”
As the snow begins to slow Saturday, it will be followed by low temperatures, especially for the southern half of the state by Saturday night and then all of Wisconsin by Monday, Cronce said.
“The falling temperatures and the breezy northwest winds are going to give us very cold wind chill temperatures,” she said. “Wind chills are going to dip into the negative 20 to negative 30 degrees below zero, and that is going to be on Saturday night and then Sunday night as well.”
About 1,000 animal welfare activists who tried to gain entry on Saturday to a beagle breeding and research facility in Wisconsin were turned back by police who fired rubber bullets and pepper spray into the crowd and arrested the group’s leader.
It was the second attempt in as many months by protesters to take beagles from the Ridglan Farms facility in Blue Mounds, a small town about 25 miles (about 40 kilometres) southwest of Wisconsin’s capital, Madison.
Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said in a video statement that 300 to 400 protesters were “violently trying to break into the property” and assault officers. He said protesters have ignored designated areas for peaceful protest and blocked roads to prevent emergency vehicles from entering.
“This is not a peaceful protest,” Barrett said.
The sheriff’s department said a “significant” number of people were arrested out of about 1,000 protesters at the site but did not give an exact total as they were still being processed as of the afternoon.
Protesters tried to overcome barricades that included a manure-filled trench, hay bales and a barbed-wire fence. Some protesters did get through the fence but were unable to enter the facility, where an estimated 2,000 beagles are kept, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
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Wisconsin men’s basketball has added a sharpshooting wing via the transfer portal.
Miami (Ohio) transfer Eian Elmer has signed with the Badgers, the team announced April 18. The 6-foot-7 wing will join UW with one year of eligibility remaining.
Elmer averaged a career-high 12.7 points and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 49.8% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range in 2025-26. His production helped the RedHawks go 32-2 and earn an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
“We are really excited to add another excellent addition to our spring signees,” UW coach Greg Gard said in a release. “Eian brings a wealth of experience and scoring punch as a 6-7 wing. … A terrific shooter, his skillset and production fit excellently into our plan as we build out next year’s team. Throughout our evaluation process, our staff loved his size, power and skill and truly believe he will thrive in our system.”
Elmer is Wisconsin’s third transfer portal addition since the end of the 2025-26 season, joining former George Washington guard Trey Autry and former Hofstra forward Victory Onuetu. UW also added Australian guard Owen Foxwell.
The additions of Autry, Onuetu and now Elmer leave Gard’s staff with three more roster spots to fill ahead of the 2026-27 season.
The Badgers are looking to replace much of their production from a 2025-26 team that went 24-11. Nolan Winter is expected to be the team’s only returning starter after John Blackwell and Aleksas Bieliauskas entered the transfer portal and Nick Boyd and Andrew Rohde exhausted their eligibility.
MILWAUKEE – Friday’s severe storms have passed. And with that, the threat of any severe weather has also passed for the immediate future as no storms or rain are expected for several days.
However, plenty of damage remains across southeastern Wisconsin as of Saturday morning, in addition to the ongoing flooding threat.
Several area rivers are at flood stage, and there are multiple river flood warnings in effect.
FOX6 Weekend WakeUp on Saturday begins at 6 a.m.
On the scene in the morning
What we know:
Farmstead damage in Franklin
FOX6’s Hayley Spitler is in Franklin on Saturday morning, April 18, getting a daylight look at the damage from last night’s storms.
Storm damage in Caledonia
Friday’s storms left quite the mark across southern and southeastern Wisconsin, including at L and L Farms and Greenhouse in Caledonia.
FOX6 Weather Extras
Local perspective:
Meanwhile, FOX6Now.com offers a variety of extremely useful weather tools to help you navigate the stormy season. They include the following:
FOX6 Storm Center app
FOX LOCAL Mobile app
FOX Weather app
Maps and radar
We have a host of maps and radars on the FOX6 Weather page that are updating regularly — to provide you the most accurate assessment of the weather. From a county-by-county view to the Midwest regional radar and a national view — it’s all there.
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School and business closings
When the weather gets a little dicey, schools and businesses may shut down. Monitor the latest list of closings, cancellations, and delays reported in southeast Wisconsin.
FOX6 Weather Experts in social media
The Source: Information in this post was compiled by the FOX6 Weather Experts.
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