The Wisconsin State Climatology Office is affiliated  with the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Our mission is to manage data for climate monitoring, to provide climate information to Wisconsin residents and government agencies, to develop "value-added" products for users and impact applications, and to conduct applied climate research. This office is a partner with Midwestern Regional Climate Center in providing climate services to the public. Collaborations with Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) research on climate impacts are now underway. If you would like assistance finding the climate data you want, visit our Guide to Wisconsin Weather and Climate Data.

Record Warm March in Wisconsin

Statewide average temperatures indicate that March 2012 was the warmest March is Wisconsin since detailed climate records began in 1895. Details are discussed in the State Bulletin on our Climate Watch Page. Similarly, these conditions prevailed for much of the U.S.; details are found at the NCDC page on “state of the climate.”

A long- term view of past spring seasons (March-May) is found on our Spring Page.

New climate normals released --- Beginning in July 2011, the National Weather Service will be referring to a set of new normals for temperature, precipitation (including snowfall) and degree-days for nearly 6000 stations across the nation, along with averages that incorporate individual states and the nation. These normals, calculated by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) are for the 1981-2010 time span and replace the normals for 1971-2000 that have been used during the last decade.
Preliminary NCDC data indicate that the new 1981-2010 temperature normals for the nation are approximately 0.5 Fahrenheit degrees higher than the older 1971-2000 normals.
Estimates made in the Wisconsin State Climatology Office reveal that the new normals for statewide annual average temperature in Wisconsin increased by 0.6 Fahrenheit degrees. This Office will provide the new normals for the stations around the Badger State during the next several months.

Climate Change

Climate Literacy -- Understanding the essential principles.

IPCC 2007 Report -- Six years of new observations and analyses in this most authoritative scientific report..

U.S. Global Change Research Program (2009) -- Impacts and regional issues..

For additional climate-change information, see our Climate Change page.