La Crosse, WI Weather

Key Messages

- Low potential for light rainfall this afternoon/evening and again late Saturday, but mostly dry conditions continue through Sunday.

- Greater rainfall potential exists Monday into Tuesday (40-70%) though the heaviest rain amounts look to stay northwest of the area. Additional potential exists mid next week.

- Temperatures trend cooler next week, but look to remain above normal.

Discussion

Issued at 100 PM CDT Fri Oct 23 2026

This Afternoon - Sunday: Mostly Dry, Low Precipitation Potential

Primarily dry conditions continue throughout the rest of this afternoon and through much of the weekend as upper level ridging slowly shifts eastward. However, an area of shortwave energy reflected at 700-500hPa currently over the north-central Iowa/south- central Minnesota is expected to continue lifting northward along the western side of the ridge this afternoon into the evening. 700- 500hPa positive vorticity advection and 700hPa frontogenesis associated with this shortwave trough combined with some modest mid to upper level moisture advection may result in scattered sprinkles to light showers this afternoon. Not expecting much in the way of impacts, if we even see rain at the surface at all, as dry air below 10kft depicted in RRFS/RAP/HRRR soundings acts to evaporate the bulk of any rain as it falls. However, there have been observations of light rain associated with these forcings upstream so a few hundreths of rain does not appear unreasonable.

While the shortwave trough continues working its way across our area tonight, a strong upper level low moves eastward across Canada, dragging a cold front into the Upper Midwest by late Saturday. This feature stalls out across Minnesota into northern Wisconsin as it becomes separated from the upper level support, remaining somewhere north of I-90 into Sunday. Weak moisture advects along this boundary under southerly flow as various shortwave troughs eject northward from a cutoff low across the Desert Southwest, promoting some low chances for light rain late Saturday through Sunday (10-20%).

Next Week: Greater Precipitation Potential, Trending Cooler

The stalled cold front begins to slowly sag southward late Sunday into early next week, allowing cooler air to filter into the region. There's still some uncertainty regarding what temperatures will ultimately be due to variations in how far south the boundary makes it and the influence from potential rainfall, but the 23.13z NBM mean suggests highs top out in the upper 50s to low 60s.

Aviation

Issued at 706 PM CDT Fri Oct 23 2026

Ongoing light rain scattered in nature expected to exit east of the forecast area through the evening hours. Besides low potential for FG impacts in River Valleys overnight, subsequent widespread flight impacts possible Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Arx Watches

WI...None. MN...None. IA...None.