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Category Archives: Seasons
What caused the recent weather extremes?
The National Weather Service in Milwaukee confirms that three separate tornadoes occurred in our state on Tuesday.
EF-1 tornadoes, with winds estimated at up to 110 mph, struck Lake Geneva and a location just outside of Big Bend. An EF-0 tornado, with winds estimated at up to 80 mph, struck southwest Waukesha. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Seasons, Severe Weather
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What is the hydrologic cycle?
Sitting nearly in the middle of the vast North American continent, Madison has what is known as a continental climate.
Continental climates are characterized by large annual extremes in temperature and humidity as well as very distinct seasons. The continental nature of Madison’s climate is what makes a year’s worth of weather in Madison usually a lot more varied than a year’s worth in Seattle, for instance. Continue reading
When is the warmest day of the year?
As we move past mid-July, the climatologically warmest day of the year in Madison (i.e. the day with the highest average high temperature) is in our immediate wake.
Every 10 years the 30-year climatology is updated in the following way: In 1972, we used the 1941-1970 average as climatology. By 1982 we were using the 1951-1980 average as climatology. Currently, we are using the 1981-2010 average as climatology. Continue reading
Does Memorial Day or Labor Day have better weather?
A Memorial Day traditionally marks the beginning of the summer while Labor Day marks the end. People are bound to have their own recollections and opinions about which weekend more reliably delivers agreeable weather here in southern Wisconsin and those opinions can be colored by many non-meteorological influences.
If forced to opine on this question while sticking to strictly meteorological factors, we would suggest that Labor Day weekend’s weather is more reliably summerlike. The reason for this comes directly from the fact that Memorial Day comes as winter is ending and Labor Day as winter approaches. Continue reading
Why are there April showers?
As we head into the second half of April, recent weather has reminded us all of the old saying, “April showers bring May flowers.” The question, of course, is why does April bring the showers? First of all, is it … Continue reading
