Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Oconto, WI

DISCUSSION
Issued at 345 AM CST Sat Jan 17 2026

The persistent upper trough across the western Great Lakes will finally shift east away from the area today into tonight. This will bring an end to the snow shower activity for most of the area later this afternoon or evening. The only exception will be across the far north where light snow lingers into the overnight hours. Additional snow accumulations should be under an inch, except for locally higher amounts across northwest Vilas County.
There is one area to watch this afternoon into early this evening is across northeast WI, from Marinette and Oconto counties southward through the Fox Valley east to the lakeshore Several models are depicting snow shower activity breaking out along a surface through that drops southward across the area. Bufkit soundings indicated steep low level lapse rates. It is possible that heavier snow showers will break out along this boundary with lower visibilities and snowfall rates to around an inch per hour.

Attention then turns to the next clipper that sweeps across the area Sunday into Sunday night. The chances of light snow are set at 60-90% with snowfall amounts between 0.5 and 1.5 inches expected for most. Snowfall totals will be higher across the far north where lake effect snow showers will linger into Monday.
Behind the clipper system, strong northwest winds will develop with gusts of 30 to 45 mph with the highest gusts over Door County. The snow on Sunday will be powdery, thus areas of blowing and drifting snow will develop Sunday night and linger into Monday. On the Bay of Green Bay and Lake Winnebago, near whiteout conditions will be possible. The winds should subside Monday afternoon.

The main story next week will be the bitter cold from Sunday night through the end of the work week as well below normal temperatures will continue into the weekend. The probabilities of wind chill readings of -20F on Monday morning range from 10-20% across Door County to 60-90% along the Interstate 39 and Highway 51 corridor in central and north-central WI. The probabilities on Tuesday increase to to 60-80% along the lakeshore to near 100% across north-central WI. On a side note, the chances of reaching -35F Tuesday morning is 20-30% across central and north-central WI. The cold will continue into next weekend, with the warmest day being Wednesday with highs across from 10 to 20 degrees.
Beyond the forecast period, the Climate Prediction Center 6-10 day temperature outlook is calling for greater chances of below normal temperatures to continue. There is a fairly potent clipper system for Tuesday night into Wednesday, with the snow chances increased to 30-50% for now. There continues to be a lot of spread in the storm track of the system. Wherever the track ends up, this system could bring several inches of snow.

AVIATION
for 18Z TAF Issuance Issued at 1201 PM CST Sat Jan 17 2026

Mainly MVFR flying conditions were observed area wide late this morning. With a few breaks in the clouds, some sites temporarily jumped to VFR, but MVFR conditions will prevail through the TAF period with lower cigs in place.

Occasional, light snow showers will continue into early afternoon, primarily across northern and eastern Wisconsin. These may bring brief vsby drops to 5SM. Additionally, there is a chance (30-50% probability at any one location) for brief, but heavier snow showers across the east-central WI TAF sites late this afternoon. Accumulations will be around 1" or less due to the short duration, but temporary IFR/LIFR vsbys could occur within any heavier snow shower.

No snow expected overnight, then the next round of light snow moves in from the west late Sunday morning.

GRB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
None.