Category Archives: Seasons

With only a few exceptions, it seems as if this year’s run-up to summer, which arrived at 3:24 a.m. Sunday, June 21, was relatively mild. By that we mean very few really oppressively hot and humid days.

Naturally, we wondered if this were actually a true impression and also how this year’s spring stacked up against others that have visited Madison over the years. One way (but not the only way) to make such an assessment is to consider how many days in the interval from April 1 to June 21 have had a daily high temperature greater than or equal to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Continue reading →

We all just lived through a historic April here in Madison, and broadly across the region.

In Madison and Milwaukee, April 2026 was the wettest April since record keeping began in 1869 and 1871, respectively. Madison received 7.26 inches of rain during the month, more than half of that amount coming on just three days (1.34 inches on April 2, 1.53 inches on April 14 and 0.98 inch on April 17). Continue reading →

Global warming can result in a multifaceted set of pressures on insect populations. Insects are cold-blooded and rely on ambient temperatures to regulate their internal body temperature. Unlike mammals, insects are more at the mercy of a hot environment because they can’t cool themselves by sweating or panting. That makes them vulnerable to extreme weather and temperature fluctuations. Their main defense strategies for excessive heat involve finding shade or burrowing underground.

Most insects are susceptible to heat stress between 82 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The observed warming trends contribute to an increased frequency of heat waves, which threatens some insect species. The increased heat waves can push some insect species beyond their thermal tolerance. Some recent research indicates that 25 out of 38 insect species studied may face increased extinction risk over the next century, driven by temperature changes in their habitats. Continue reading →