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Category Archives: Climate
Are the number of thunderstorms in Wisconsin decreasing?
This question comes from one of our readers, based on casual observation. It is always good to get data and analyze such a generalization to find the best answer. So, we turned to the Wisconsin State Climatology Office.
The National Weather Service records the number of thunderstorm days at several sites across the U.S. A thunderstorm day is when thunder or lightning is detected at least once during the day. Since the mid-1990s, the nation’s primary surface weather observation network is the Automated Surface Observing Systems, or ASOS program, which has essentially replaced human observers. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Severe Weather
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Can record high and low temperatures help define regional definitions of seasons?
Though it now seems to be fully in swing, the spring has sure seemed delayed in coming this year in southern Wisconsin. This made us wonder if there might be a more refined, and local, way to think about the calendar-day boundaries of the seasons.
In research undertaken to write a recent column, we catalogued Madison’s record high and low temperature data for each calendar day employing data that went back to 1939. An interesting partition of the full year resulted from this simple analysis. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Seasons
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What is happening with ocean temperatures?
Scientists record global ocean temperatures using satellite observations. Since mid-March, the global average sea surface temperature has been more than 70 degrees, a record high temperature. This indicates rapid warming, which is associated with global warming and ocean circulations.
El Niño and La Niña are climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean. Normally, the trade winds blow west along the equator, moving warm water from South America toward Asia. To replace that warm water, cold water rises from the ocean depths — a process called upwelling. That means cold water rises to the surface near South America. Continue reading
How could we be in a fire danger this early in spring after all the winter snow?
This 2022-23 winter — December through February — was exceptional in that it was Wisconsin’s wettest meteorological winter on record, and those records go back to 1895.
The state also experienced significant snowfall in March. When the snow slowly melts into the soil, it provides needed water for plant growth. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Seasons, Weather Dangers
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Is March weather susceptible to being unusual?
The adage about March weather coming “in like a lion, out like a lamb” was far off the mark for southern Wisconsin this year.
In Madison, it was not a particularly cold month as the average temperature was only 0.8 degrees below normal. However, we had the second-snowiest March ever — and snowiest since the record was set in 1959 — with 25.3 inches of accumulated snow. In addition, it snowed on 16 of the 31 days in the past month, so winter was unusually reluctant to loosen its grip. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Seasons
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