Final totals: Wisconsin digs out after March snow storm

March 19, 2026

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Good morning!

Ellie here. March Madness officially starts today! Have you filled out a bracket?

The 5 seeded Wisconsin mens basketball team plays today at 12:50 p.m. against the 12 seeded High Point University. Go Badgers!

Will you be keeping up with the tournament? Who do you have winning in your bracket? Let me know.

Today we’re taking a look at some local highway crews played a life-saving role Monday morning and the snow totals that we saw around the state.

A quick reminder: For tomorrow’s Locals Love, I want to hear about your favorite gift and craft shops around our state! Send me your favorites—and tell me why—to be featured.

Ellie Bourdo

Newsletter Editor, UpNorthNews

(Credit Keith B)

Our reader, Keith B., sent in this awesome photo of his pup in the snow! This really puts into perspective how much snow we got. Thanks for sharing!

Send in your Wisconsin view to have it featured.

Speaking of pups, keep these breweries and beer gardens that welcome dogs top of mind for when the snow finally melts!

Show me your Wisconsin view!

Local highway departments save lives during Wisconsin winter storm

Local highway departments save lives during Wisconsin winter storm. (Unsplash / Elias Null)

By Ellie Bourdo

Amid the winter storm Wisconsin faced earlier this week, local highway crews played a life-saving role Monday morning.

On Sunday evening, all transfers out of ThedaCare-Shawano Medical Center were put on hold due to dangerous travel, including white out conditions, blowing snow, and heavily drifted highways.

Monday morning, two patients with life-threatening conditions required urgent transport to higher-level care facilities. Crews from the Shawano County Highway Department and Outagamie County Highway Department stepped in and coordinated an emergency response.

Read more →

What are the final snow totals from Wisconsin’s March winter storm?

A pedestrian crosses Weil Street in Riverwest during a snowstorm on the morning of March 16, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (USA Today via Reuters Connect)

By USA Today via Reuters Connect

The snow has finally stopped falling, and tallies show the massive March winter storm brought more than 30 inches of snow to parts of Wisconsin.

In central Wisconsin, which was hit hardest, the storm began the evening of Saturday, March 14 and did not relent until the morning of Monday, March 16, according to the National Weather Service.

Check out how much snow WI communities got →

Evers vetoes GOP bill, urging lawmakers to ‘get serious’ about childcare crisis

FILE – A teacher at Community Care Preschool & Childcare in Beaver Dam teaches 2-year-olds. (Photo by Cara Spoto)

By Pat Kreitlow

Like a teacher giving a bad grade on a report, Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill that Republicans claimed was a partial solution to the lack of affordable childcare in Wisconsin, saying not once but twice in his veto message: “Get serious.”

Evers released a veto memo Friday for the bill (Senate Bill 291) saying the GOP proposal to add broad, vague corporate tax deductions to offset some employer and employee childcare expenses would invite waste and fraud.

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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Ellie Bourdo with stories from USA Today Network via Reuters Connect and Pat Kreitlow. It was edited by Brook Bolen.

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