Category Archives: Seasons

What is the spring equinox?

Posted on March 20, 2023 by WeatherGuys Editor

The spring equinox marks the beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere. Also called the vernal equinox, it is the time of year when the sun rises due east and sets due west, no matter where you live. … Continue reading →

Category: Meteorology, Seasons

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How did this year’s winter rank?

Posted on March 6, 2023 by WeatherGuys Editor

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 →

Category: Climate, Meteorology, Seasons

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How much energy goes into making snow?

Posted on February 27, 2023 by WeatherGuys Editor

Since Dec. 1, Madison and Dane County have received approximately 40 inches of snow — 3 inches above normal for that span.

Snow is a form of solid water, and water is the only substance that occurs naturally in all three phases — solid, liquid and invisible gas — in the Earth’s atmosphere. Continue reading →

Category: Meteorology, Seasons

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When does the winter cold end?

Posted on February 20, 2023 by WeatherGuys Editor

It has now been more than two weeks since our last below-zero morning here in Madison — Feb. 3 was minus 8 degrees. Thus, a natural question might be this: Are we done with bitter cold for the winter?

If we use an overnight low temperature at or below zero as the metric, then 45 of the 83 winters since 1939-40 have seen a cold spell after Feb. 20 — a surprising 54.2% of the time. In fact, in 1982, the last zero degree (or colder) night was not until April 7, the latest date in the last 83 years. Continue reading →

Category: History, Seasons

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How did January measure up?

Posted on February 6, 2023 by WeatherGuys Editor

What a strange month January 2023 was in Madison.

The cloudiness was remarkably persistent and, though we don’t have a measurement of that variable for the month at hand, anecdotal assertions we have heard suggest that Madison got only about 8% of its possible January sunshine this past month. Continue reading →

Category: Meteorology, Seasons

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