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Category Archives: Climate
What is a drought?
A drought means different things to different people. Technically, a drought is a period of abnormally dry weather sufficiently long enough in a given area to cause a shortage of water, whether it is for crops, recreation, water supply utilities or other purposes. As you can imagine, a drought for someone who lives in a desert region would be very different than for a person living among Wisconsin’s many lakes. Continue reading
Will this be the hottest summer on record?
Our remarkably warm summer continues to take aim at some all-time record measures of heat here in Madison.
Just as we poked into the severe drought category on July 18, we were visited by fairly widespread heavy rains that night that delivered 1.43 inches of rain to Dane County Regional Airport. The morning of July 24 brought another 0.56 inches of rain and still more came that night into the morning of July 25. Thus, at least some relief of the drought has recently come our way. Continue reading
Is Dane County wind affected by Lake Superior ice?
A reader wondered whether his perception that it has become windier in southern Wisconsin over the past couple of decades has anything to do with the shorter Lake Superior ice season during the same time. Continue reading
How does our recent heat wave stack up against past events?
With another wave of dangerous heat upon us, it is of interest to consider how the last heat wave rates alongside other memorable heat waves. First of all, each day from July 4-6, Madison’s high temperature was more than 100 degrees with the 104 on July 5 ranking as third highest of all time. Moreover, we set record high temperatures for five consecutive days from July 2-6. Continue reading
Category: Climate
Tags Climate, Dangers, Heat, Heat index, Summer, Temperature
Comments Off on How does our recent heat wave stack up against past events?
Tags Climate, Dangers, Heat, Heat index, Summer, Temperature
Comments Off on How does our recent heat wave stack up against past events?
When was the last time we had a colder-than-normal month?
With our mild winter, incredibly warm March, and reasonably warm May coming in sequence, it seems as if it has been a long time since Madison experienced a below-normal month. Continue reading
Category: Climate
Tags Climate, Temperature
Comments Off on When was the last time we had a colder-than-normal month?
Tags Climate, Temperature
Comments Off on When was the last time we had a colder-than-normal month?
