Editor’s note: This week’s newsletter was written by associate editor Will Cushman
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This winter’s been a pretty wild ride so far, and it looks like there’s no end in sight to the weather madness. I don’t know about you all, but I’m ready to call it a season and take up residence on a radiator with my cats until May.
In all seriousness, though, this has been a pretty unusual winter in Wisconsin, climatologically and historically.
Just how unusual, you ask?
Well, it got more bone-chillingly cold than it’s been in nearly 25 years, Wisconsin experienced temperature swings the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Korean War, and several communities have spent pretty much all of February locked in a perpetual cycle of snow removal. (There was so much in some places, including Eau Claire and Wausau, that this February is now the snowiest on record for many places in Wisconsin.)
Oh, and all of this has gone down since Jan. 18. Remember the first half of winter? Doesn’t the balmy weather of December and early January feel like a dream at this point? If you read this newsletter regularly, you might remember when I offered my contemplation of the curious case of my backyard crocuses breaking through the soil. Well, whatever’s left of those confused flora are now frozen under a couple feet of packed snow and ice. RIP, little crocuses.
If you’re wondering what’s behind our Jekyll and Hyde winter, WisContext is here for you with some wildly interesting expert analysis from some of Wisconsin’s top climatologists. (TL;DR: It’s basically the jet stream.) Packed with charts and maps, we delved deeper into just how unprecedented (or not) this year’s winter has been.
We were curious about how data can help tell (or refute) these extreme weather stories. WisContext utilized the rich database that is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Applied Climate Information System to help us tell the story of Wisconsin’s 2018-2019 winter. The database includes historical temperature and precipitation data for communities across Wisconsin, going back as far as 1869(!) for Madison.
With the help of NOAA’s database, we were able to better understand how this winter stacks up in the historical record. It served as a jumping off point for exploring some of the extreme weather of Wisconsin’s past, including the historic cold snap of 1951.
In addition giving this winter some scientific and historical context, we wondered how extreme winter weather informs Wisconsin’s folklore and a shared sense of place. Nearly every family in Wisconsin has a story (or two or three) about a record-breaking snowfall, crazy cold night or treacherous drive on winter roads, and we explored how those stories and the weather that serves as their backdrop fit into our culture and collective understanding of Wisconsin’s changing climate.
So, dear reader, do you have a crazy Wisconsin weather story? Why does it stand out? Do you remember when it took place? If so, take a gander at NOAA’s database and try to find out if your recollection lines up with the historic record. We invite you to share your stories with us, either directly or on social media. If it’s particularly wild, we may feature it in the future.
Stay warm, kittens!
Will Cushman
Associate editor, WisContext
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As always, if you have questions about this email or an idea you’d like to see put into action, I want to hear from you. Send me a message at hayley.sperling@wiscontext.org, or find me @hksperl on Twitter.
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