Monday’s rains and gusting winds could create issues for drivers this evening as temperatures fall, National Weather Service officials said.
Rain and winds picked up Monday morning starting at 5 a.m. for Northern Jefferson and Southern Dodge counties.
Wind speeds peaked at 35 mph at 9 a.m. for Watertown and surrounding areas, said Meteorologist Marcia Cronce with the National Weather Service.
As of 7 a.m. Jefferson received 1.3 inches of rain, Lake Mills received 1.5 inches of rain as of 8:30 a.m. The official rain report for Fort Atkinson won’t be available until Tuesday, but 1.5-2 inches of rain was about the same over the area NWS meteorologist said.
As of 11 a.m. Monday, Watertown and surrounding areas estimated to have received 2 inches of rain, some areas topping 2 inches, Cronce said.
Light rainfall was expected between 3 and 6 p.m.. Precipitation was expected to end by 6 p.m. on Monday should be over with, Cronce said Monday morning.
“There were strong east winds this morning, rain is now dying down and winds will pick back up again this evening,” she said.
Monday night’s temperatures were forecast to reach 30-32 degrees, allowing any left over water to freeze, she said.
While high wind speeds will help dry roads off, any puddles will be slower to dry, Cronce said.
That could create puddles of ice on some spots but not others, Cronce said.
“There’s ponding water in roads which is expected in February on top of particularly frozen ground,” she said.
