Area digs out after major winter storm buries much of the state

Wisconsin and much of the great lakes states are digging out of a major winter storm that is passing through the area.

In the Fond du Lac area, heavy snow fell for much of the day Friday and then the wind picked up, causing drifting problems through-out the county.

The National weather service had much of Wisconsin under a winter storm warning but much of the fox river valley counties, including Fond du Lac were placed under a blizzard warning Friday afternoon.

Unofficially, about a foot of snow fell in much of Fond du Lac County. Travel throughout the area was next to impossible and car and semis were reported stranded just about everywhere they tried to drive. The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office handled 80 cases of vehicles in the ditch or crashes between 6 AM Friday and 6 AM Saturday, but many of those incidents had multiple vehicles stranded for each case. At one point, an officer advised seven semis were stranded in the area of County F near County V, blocking the road.

Another semi was seen driving backwards down the hill on Johnson street on the east side of Fond du Lac because they couldn’t make it up the hill.

Interstates 41 and 43 were closed in multiple locations for much of the day while emergency officials dealt with jackknifed semis, and a Wisconsin State Trooper cruiser was rear-ended while working a traffic incident on 45 near 41 in Winnebago County. The trooper reported no injuries, but that there was major damage to his car.

As of Saturday morning, the National Weather Service says about another inch of snow could fall yet, but wind will continue to cause blowing and drifting issues.

And now that the snow has moved on, a bitter cold airmass will sweep across the area with wind chill values approaching 30 below 0 by Monday night.