Hanging out at Lambeau as the Packers defensive draft rolls on … five picks, all defense.  Ted Thompson said last night, this is still the ‘best player available’ approach in action … but the Packers had needs on defense, and they’re being addressed.

Maine safety Jerron McMillian was excited and engaging in his phone conference with media here.  Sounded really enthusiastic about getting drafted, and admitted he was surprised to be drafted as high as he was.  McMillian also talked about Nick Collins, said he’d always followed Collins’ career since he came from a small school (Bethune-Cookman).

Dom Capers described defensive tackle Mike Daniels out of Iowa as a football guy.  In his phone conference, that came through.  My favorite part, by far, was when he was asked about his favorite ‘move’ to get to the quarterback.  His answer: ‘hustle.’  Good answer.  At 5’11, Daniels also said he’s been overcoming doubts about his height as a defensive lineman his whole career.  In his pre-draft press conference, Ted Thompson pointed to linebacker DJ Smith as a guy who wasn’t ideal height, but has worked out in the NFL so far.  Thompson may have found another one.

Packers have some time (barring a trade) until their next pick, late in the sixth round.

Showers and thunderstorms pushed through the area yesterday with Green Bay and locations north picking up about a tenth of an inch of rain for the most part.  When the sunshine peaked out of the clouds in the afternoon the temperatures reached into the upper 60s.  That warm weather is gone as winds have turned to the northeast but we’ll have another round of rain late this afternoon and tonight with some locations picking up an inch of rainfall.  Highs for the next few days will be a bit below normal (56°).  The real weather story though is the fact that we’ll see some snow in the northwest counties overnight and it may add up to 1 to 3 inches by tomorrow morning.  That’s why there’s a winter weather advisory in effect for a portion of Northeast Wisconsin overnight. There will probably even be some white stuff on the grass in the Green Bay vicinity by Friday morning.

So we will have a statewide tornado drill today and snow overnight.  That’s Wisconsin weather for you. In fact it was one year ago that witnter storm Gabe hit the area dumping more than 10 inches of snow.  This was not the latest for snow around here though; we’ve seen some late in November.  Look for mostly cloudy skies tomorrow with a chance of morning showers and drizzle and a high near 46.  Right now the weekend looks dry with highs in the low to mid 50s.

It’s less windy than yesterday.  Peak wind gusts Monday were 45 mph in Appleton, Oshkosh and Manitowoc; 46 mph in Green Bay and 51 mph in Algoma.  The strong winds even did some damage in the area including knocking down a willow tree in Neenah. After a frosty start,  things warm up under partly sunny skies into the 50s later with winds becoming southerly at 5 to 10 mph. A storm system moves in tonight and brings showers tomorrow with strong southerly winds kicking up temperatures to the mid 60s.  Another system will bring rain Thursday afternoon and some snow could be accumulating by early Friday morning.  Yes, I said snow.  Right now it’s too early to tell how  much if any we will receive but it’s April so it won’t be on the ground long.  Have a great day!   

A cold  front will push through the state today resulting in dropping temperatures.  In fact we’ve already seen our high for the day as temperatures will fall to the mid 40s by this afternoon with a chance of rain showers and the winds will continue to howl at 15 to 30 mph with gusts to 40 mph at times.  There is a wind advisory in effect for the southern portion of our viewing area with gusts of 45 mph possible.  We may even see a snow shower this evening before skies start to clear and areas of frost develop by tomorrow morning.  A nice day tomorrow with mostly sunny skies and highs near 53. 

Stormy weather is headed for Wisconsin, but first it will hit the central plains, in the heart of tornado alley.  There is a high risk Saturday for severe weather from Nebraska, through Kansas, and into Oklahoma.  Devastating long lived tornadoes are possible in the risk area.  

Wisconsin will see showers and thunderstorms Saturday night, but those should be below severe levels, causing lightning, gusty winds, and pea sized hail.  Heavy downpours will actually help relieve many areas that are very dry.

A low pressure system and warm front will be the focus for more thunderstorm activity Sunday afternoon.  Most of Wisconsin is under a slight risk for severe weather Sunday.  The primary threat from these storms will be damaging winds; however large hail and a few tornadoes are also possible.

The Fox11 weather team will be tracking these storms.  Make sure your weather radio is on and equipped with fresh batteries.  Meteorologist Phil DeCastro will have the latest forecast on Fox11 News @ 9pm.

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