Looking for Madison Winter Weather Info/Clarification (and job prospects)

[Skippery Boo]

Rekuci is right. After unusually heavy snows the city crews sometimes can't reclaim the bike paths completely. The paths become treacherous if not impassable. This doesn't happen every year.

Like Rekuci, I give up the bike when the going gets rough. I give it up even if the paths are okay. The cold and patches of ice make riding unpleasant and dangerous in my view. Most years this means December, January, and February. The great majority of bike commuters pack it in during those months. Some drive. Many switch to the bus.

A few don't give it up at all. They're tough. Also crazy in my opinion (though let's say not Rekuci's husband). They'll disagree with this assessment. Some of them vociferously. Quintessence of Madison.

[r_k]

Winters here are different from Denver in two respects: They are colder (the high temp in Madison is about 18 degs colder than Denver in mid Jan) and there is less sun (though as others have pointed out there is still plenty of sun, esp in the coldest months - the "cloudy" months are really late Fall or early Spring).

The difference in daily max temp makes the most difference, because you can hit weeks and months at a stretch when the temp stays below 32 degs day and night, i.e. the snow does not melt anywhere nearly as quickly as in Denver. The sunny days are usually the coldest.

As a result I do not consider it practical to ride your bike in the Madison area for the period from mid-Dec to early March. There is quite often a near-permanent ice pack on bike paths and the sides of roads, making them uneven and slippery.

Some will disagree, but they are either less concious of safety than I am, or they have not lived here long enough. I have been commuting to work by bike in the Madison area for almost 40 years, and in the early days I used to ride the bike throughout the winter. Not any more, though. A couple of friends still do.

Having said that, it is practical to ride a bike from mid-March to late-Nov most years, and a month or two extra in many years. With a few exceptions the last 15 or so winters have been not as cold as the previous 25, though they have been snowier by a bit.

The road clearing in Madison (city limits, that is) is sub-par compared to what it used to be, and definitely much worse than in the countryside and small towns that surround Madison. I understand this is due to efforts to limit salt use, but good reason or not, that is how it is. Realy big snow storms are not common, so you are only likely to encounter really bad roads only a few days out of the year.

So to summarize: Cloudiness - not a huge problem (in fact the shortness of daylight because of being further north is more of a problem). Biking - 8 or 9 months probably. Roads - Thumbs down in snowy weather but this may change because the Mayor took a lot of heat last winter after some bad episodes.

And if you liked summer you will simply love Spring and Fall (though they only seem to last a few hours each).

Re. IT jobs it is a slow market, but check some of the big area employers, like the State, University, Epic, American Family, TDS etc.

Welcome to Madison.

[IcemanJB]

As for IT jobs, we're about to hire someone for a web developer position, so the positions are out there.

I'll try to summarize Madison's weather:

Spring = muddy, rainy, often cloudy.
Summer = warm, usually humid, volatile weather. One day can be nasty thunderstorms with tornadoes, the next can be 85 degrees and sunny.
Fall = mild weather, windy.
Winter = cold, snowy, dark. Sunny days often mean it's really cold out - these are actually my favorite. We're good for about 1 or 2 major snowfalls (10" +), with many smaller snowfalls (3-6"). It stays cold so the snow will stick around, making the roads a mess sometimes. I've always said having a 4 wheel drive vehicle available is important while living here. I've rescued countless people that have slid off the road. It's actually kind of fun.

The city is bike-friendly, but it can be nasty in the winter since temperatures keep the snow pack around. You don't see many people biking from December-March.