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Category Archives: Seasons
Why is the reference, or normal, climate period a 30-year average?
Climate normals are 30-year averages for various climate observations such as temperature, precipitation and snowfall. A 30-year period smooths out weather variability while getting a good representation of our current climate. The current 30-year normal covers the period 1991-2020. This averaging provides a baseline for comparisons and assessing whether a particular day or month is warmer or cooler than normal, or if it is wetter or drier than normal.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recommends 30 years as the reference for current average conditions, and member nations follow that recommendation. For the United States, NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) is the official source of the country’s climate normals. The computation is nontrivial and more complicated than one might initially anticipate. Climate scientists employ complex statistical calculations to ensure the observations accurately represent the full 30-year climate period. The determination of normal must account for the occasional missing data, change in station location and instrument upgrades. Continue reading
How did our summer look climatologically?
Meteorological summer is defined as the weather from June 1 through Aug. 31. The reference, or normal, climate period is the 30-year period of 1991-2020. The State Climatology Office recently completed its analysis of our 2026 summer conditions and created a comparison with previous summers.
The statewide average temperature during the summer of 2026 was 68.5 Fahrenheit, which is 1.3 degrees above normal. This was the seventh consecutive summer during which Wisconsin experienced a warmer-than-average temperature. All three summer months were above their normal monthly temperature. The largest departures of three to four degrees were scattered throughout northern Wisconsin. Continue reading
Has 2026 been an active tornado year?
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of Earth and the storm above. The 30-year normal (1981-2010) for Wisconsin is 23 tornadoes per year.
As of mid-July, the National Weather Service has confirmed that our state has experienced 39 documented tornadoes, which ties it with 2025 for the 6th most tornadoes in an entire year. These tornadoes were distributed over 10 different days. Twenty-seven of those tornadoes were spawned between April 13 and April 17, with 16 on April 17 alone. Continue reading
What is the wet-bulb temperature?
The wet-bulb temperature is the lowest temperature to which unsaturated air can be cooled by evaporating liquid water into it.
This may sound horribly obscure, but it serves as a very useful measure of human comfort. It combines atmospheric humidity and temperature in a way that helps determine our comfort level while in the shade, especially during hot and humid conditions. Continue reading
Does NOAA conduct fire weather forecasting?
Wildfire outbreaks require the alignment of several factors, including temperature, humidity, winds and the lack of moisture in fuels such as trees, shrubs and grasses. These factors have strong direct or indirect ties to current weather, climate variability and climate change. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration supports weather forecasting throughout a wildfire’s lifecycle: before, during and after the wildfire.
Drought conditions can set the stage for wildfires. Continue reading
Category: Seasons, Severe Weather, Weather Dangers
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