A powerful, long duration winter storm brought widespread snowfall amounts of 8 to 24 inches across parts of northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, with areas around Lake Superior receiving up to 30 inches of snow. A wintry mixture of sleet, freezing rain and snow began Tuesday (December 13th) afternoon and evening, spreading northeast overnight Tuesday night and into Wednesday (December 14th) morning. This first wave of precipitation brought a widespread 6 to 12 inches of snow.  We had a break in the snowfall during the day on Wednesday, but it started up again Wednesday night and continued into Thursday (December 15th), bringing another 8-20 inches of snow.  This second wave of precipitation was nearly all snow, enhanced by the main upper level low pressure system as it moved close to the area.  Lighter snow lingered into Friday and Saturday, December 16th and 17th.  A low pressure system developed over eastern Colorado early Tuesday, moved northeast to eastern Nebraska by Wednesday morning, then to east-central Minnesota by Thursday morning, lingering there through Friday before moving off to the northeast Friday night and Saturday.
The storm resulted in a long period of poor road conditions, with strong winds causing blowing and drifting snow. There were also widespread power outages, with some people reporting no power for over two days!
Notable with this storm was how wet and heavy the snow was, with 3-day liquid equivalent values of 1 to 4 inches. The wet quality of this snow, unusual for winter storms in this area, heavily weighed down trees and power lines. The density of the snowpack also exacerbated the quality of snow to absorb the red end of the visible light spectrum, transmitting the blue end, which led to many folks observing a glacier blue color in holes and cracks in the snow as they cleared it. Because of this blue color, as well as the very wet quality of the snowfall, NWS Duluth has taken to referring to this snow as the Blue Blizzard of 2022.

Heavy Snow in DOUGLAS, WISCONSIN
From 14-DEC-22 05:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 13:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Snowfall totals of 10 to 16 inches were reported across Douglas County with a high report of 20 inches in the Hawthorne area.

Heavy Snow in BAYFIELD, WISCONSIN
From 14-DEC-22 08:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 13:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Snowfall totals of 12 to 18 inches were recorded across Bayfield County with a high report of 23.5 inches near Iron River.

Heavy Snow in ASHLAND, WISCONSIN
From 14-DEC-22 09:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 08:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Snowfall of 5 to 10 inches was reported across the county with a high report of 11 inches near Ashland.

Heavy Snow in BURNETT, WISCONSIN
From 14-DEC-22 05:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 12:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Snowfall totals of 5 to 11 inches were recorded across the county with a high report of 15.4 inches near Danbury.

Heavy Snow in WASHBURN, WISCONSIN
From 14-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 10:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Snowfall totals of 6 to 12 inches were recorded across the county with a high report of 16.8 inches near Spooner.

Ice Storm in SAWYER, WISCONSIN
From 14-DEC-22 02:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 07:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

A period of freezing rain occurred at the onset of the storm before changing over to snow. Ice accumulations up to around a quarter of an inch were recorded with a high report of 0.30 inches Chief Lake.

Heavy Snow in SAWYER, WISCONSIN
From 14-DEC-22 07:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 10:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Snowfall totals of 6 to 12 inches were recorded across the county with a high report of 16.9 inches near Hayward.

Heavy Snow in PRICE, WISCONSIN
From 14-DEC-22 10:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 09:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Snowfall totals of 6 to 10 inches were recorded across the county with a high report of 13 inches near Butternut.

Heavy Snow in IRON, WISCONSIN
From 14-DEC-22 13:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 11:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Snowfall totals of 5 to 8 inches were recorded across Iron County with a high report of 9.5 inches near Mercer.