Category Archives: Climate

Meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere is often defined as the three months of December, January and February. The just-ended winter of 2022-23 was notable in a number of ways.

First, here in Madison we started with a chilly month of December during which we averaged 0.8 degrees below normal. This was also the only month of the season in which we had a day with a high temperature below zero — minus 3 on Dec. 23. Continue reading →

The Southern Ocean around Antarctica freezes to form sea ice every year. Scientists use observations from satellites to monitor the sea ice extent throughout the year.

Sea ice melt in Antarctica is a seasonal occurrence that usually begins in September (the end of Southern Hemisphere winter) and continues into February (end of Southern Hemisphere summer). As the pole warms during summer, the sea ice around the continent breaks up and melts. Continue reading →

Here we are halfway through the month of January, and it has been remarkably mild for those of us in southern Wisconsin.

Through Saturday, January has been 10.3 degrees above normal in Madison and 10.6 degrees above normal in Milwaukee. In fact, since Christmas Day, the temperature in Madison has averaged just shy of 9 degrees (8.93 degrees) above normal in what is usually one of the colder stretches of the year. Continue reading →

Our first substantial snowfall of the season visited Madison on Friday morning as a period of moderate to heavy snow fell from around 7 to 9:45 a.m.

In the end, we accumulated 4.4 inches of heavy wet snow timed perfectly to snarl the morning commute. Continue reading →