Winter 2016/2017 Climate Summary

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Believe it or not, we've already reached meteorological spring. Before we get too excited about warm weather, blooming flowers, and thunderstorms, (wait, we've already had all that...) let's take a look back at this past winter.

Winter 2016/2017 was the tale of 2 winters. December was characterized by normal temperatures and above normal snowfall. In fact, the majority of the snowfall for the season fell in December. At Milwaukee, 18.8" out of 24.0" of winter snowfall fell in December. It's a similar story at Madison where 22.7" out of 35.7" of winter snowfall fell in December. The Dec-Jan-Feb winter season as a whole ended up being the 10th warmest on record at Milwaukee.

January, and especially February were characterized by extreme warmth and well below normal snowfall. In fact, the warmest temperatures ever recorded in the winter months were observed on February 22 at both Milwaukee and Madison.

Total precipitation for the winter was actually just a bit above normal, but all of the warmth in January and February led to much below normal snowfall. In fact, February 2017 was the 5th least snowy February on record at Milwaukee.