Category Archives: Climate

The year 2016 will go down as one with below-normal Arctic sea ice coverage.

While not quite a record-setting year like 2012, throughout much of 2016 the extent of sea ice was more than two standard deviations below the average. At the end of October the Arctic sea ice was at its lowest coverage for the month since satellite-based data records started in 1978. Continue reading →

The first cold mornings of the season visited southern Wisconsin last week with the morning low temperatures dipping to 34 and 33 degrees on Thursday and Friday mornings, respectively.

The first chill of the year has the tendency to turn our attention to the prospects of snow and when it might first arrive in Madison. Continue reading →

Sunday was the 110th consecutive day in Madison with a daily high temperature at or above 70 degrees, shattering the previous longest such streak of 103 days, set in 1998, by seven days.

We are also approaching the record for the number of consecutive days with a daily minimum temperature at or above 45 degrees, set in 2010 when a streak of 128 such days occurred. As of Sunday, this year’s string was at 127. Low temperatures forecast around 45 degrees for Monday through Wednesday could maintain or break that streak. Continue reading →

As we head into the second half of August a subtle transition in our weather begins to occur — one that is probably hard to detect at first but that eventually becomes very obvious and then lasts for approximately eight … Continue reading →