Author Archives: WeatherGuys Editor

When does tornado season start?

Posted on April 10, 2017 by WeatherGuys Editor

Wisconsin has had tornadoes in every month of the year except February.

We can have tornadoes almost anytime, although the chances of having one in winter are pretty small. Continue reading →

Category: Meteorology, Seasons, Severe Weather

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Do Major League games get canceled due to snow?

Posted on April 3, 2017 by WeatherGuys Editor

In this country, Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season is more likely to be considered the start of spring than the vernal equinox that precedes it by two weeks each year.

However, as committed baseball fans surely know, the start of the season does not mandate the start of the warm season. In fact, though no definitive record of the total number of Major League games postponed by snow exists, quite a number of opening weeks have experienced widespread disruption as a result of early season snow. Most recently, opening weeks in 2007 and 2013 were plagued by numerous cancellations across both leagues. Continue reading →

Category: Seasons, Severe Weather

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Is springtime pothole season?

Posted on March 27, 2017 by WeatherGuys Editor

Many drivers probably consider early spring to be pothole season.

A pothole is a structural failure in a road surface.

Potholes result from a combination of traffic and water in the underlying soil. Continue reading →

Category: Seasons, Weather Dangers

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Is there a “State Tournament Snowstorm” legacy?

Posted on March 21, 2017 by WeatherGuys Editor

A persistent anecdotal piece of weather lore around Madison is that the WIAA’s boys state basketball tournament is always accompanied by a snowstorm.

With the help of Edward Hopkins at the State Climatologist’s Office, we looked into this perception with cold, hard data. Continue reading →

Category: Meteorology, Seasons

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Is carbon dioxide a major contributor to global warming?

Posted on March 13, 2017 by WeatherGuys Editor

The Earth’s atmosphere is a mixture of many different gases. Several of these gases are known as “greenhouse gases” because they share the characteristic of being excellent absorbers of infra-red radiation.

Such gases absorb radiation emitted by the Earth that would otherwise escape to space and cool the planet. Upon being absorbed, these gases re-emit a fraction of that energy back downward to the surface, keeping the planet warmer than it would otherwise be. In fact, our Earth would have an average temperature of about zero without these greenhouse gases. Continue reading →

Category: Climate, Meteorology

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