weather...... so bad??! (Milwaukee, Madison, Superior: best cities, home, school districts)

[momandwifefromcali]

I just got back form seeing a few freinds and I told them about us thinking of moving to Wisconsin and they scared me so much! Is it true that the weather in the winter is sooo bad? Is the snow so heavy that sometimes you can drive, go to school/work etc?

[tchemgrrl]

Let's see.... I'm in Madison, which probably stays about as clear of snow as anywhere, being in an urban area, which both warms up the air and ground and means that there are regular snowplows. Last winter I can think of one storm bad enough that the buses didn't run, and several days where the snow was bad enough that my husband canceled plans that would have involved driving (he learned to drive in Buffalo, so he knows from snow!).

Schools in town were closed probably 2-4 days, and delayed or set up for early dismissal 4 or so times, though I don't have children to make me pay attention to those stats, so maybe someone else might have more accurate numbers.

I'd been living in upstate NY prior to this, so I found the snow to be very minimal by comparison, but your experience might be different--I assume you're from California based on your user name. It's considerably colder than Upstate was, though.

[MidwesternBookWorm]

Tchemgrrl sums it up pretty well. Madison (which is located in south-central Wisconsin), gets some of the cold white stuff, but not nearly as much as other regions, and it does get chilly here, but again, not as much as other places, nor does it last for long.

Our family has lived here for 8 years (spouse and I originally from Michigan by way of South Texas) and we've seen a wide variety of winters. One year, we had a total of 3 feet of snow in December, 2 to 6 inches a day every couple of days all month long. Other years, we've had less than 2 feet of snow over the entire winter. The snowstorm tchemgrrl referred to last winter was very close to an actual blizzard, and when we have that kind of event, all non-essential businesses shut down and everyone stays home and drinks hot buttered rum. However, that was the first one I've seen since we moved here in 1999, so it's not like it's a regular occurence.

The late-start school days that tchemgrrl refers to happen mainly in the smaller outlying, rural communities that have very long bus routes to cover all the farms. Urban school districts in southern Wisconsin rarely if ever have late-start days. In some of the most rural communities, they can happen as often as once or twice a week in some winters.

Temperatures are going to be mostly in the 30's to 50's in November, teens to 40's in December, can be below zero for several days at a time during January and February, though mostly in the teens and 20's, back up to 20's to 40's in March and steadily warmer thereafter. During cold spells, you need to dress in layers, limit the amount of bare skin that is exposed to outside air, and be sensible about where you go and what you do (i.e., don't go for a ten-mile hike in the woods when it's below zero).

All that said, remember what I said in the first paragraph: Madison is in the SOUTHERN part of the state. If I recall your original post on the other thread correctly, you were thinking of communities farther north, and what's true for Madison is not likely to hold true several hundred miles north. Anywhere you go in Wisconsin, you'll have four seasons to enjoy, but those four seasons can vary a lot between Madison and Superior.

Good luck!

[EnjoyEP]

I largely agree with the previous two posters regarding their insights on the weather in Madison, WI, however, I just have to add a caveat of sorts - Madison's (or Milwaukee metro's...the area I know that you are interested in living via your other post) winters aren't as bad as say - the Upper Penninsula or upstate NY. But having said that, that is like saying Phoenix's summers aren't that hot...(if you are comparing it to Death Valley). While I am not certain the portion of Cali you would be coming from, assuming it is any of the fairly large, common metro areas (and not a high altitude area of Cali), you will indeed be in for a very large adjustment as it relates to the winters.

First off, let me state that to me (my standard of comparison in the Milwaukee metro area...roughly the warmest overall winter area in the state - [yet still freezing cold in winter]) the hardest part about winter is NOT the intense cold or snow of Dec.-Feb. Rather, the hardest part is the length of the winter.

Essentially, winter is a Thanksgiving through April Fool's Day season here, if not a hare longer. March and April are tough months in general, as while in most parts of the nation you expect chilly or cold weather in Dec. - Feb., other parts of the nation get much more of a gradual warm up in March and April than we do in WI; we are one of the last areas (the Upper Midwest in general) to get that springtime warmup.

Here on September 12, we are coming off of a night where there were warnings for areas of patchy frost. So you can feel a decent chill in the air from September through May in SE WI.

As for the heart of winter, snows may and do vary from year-to-year. Some folks do have a bit of a skewed perception of how "snowy it used to be" and now "how little snow we get"...memories of weather tend to get fuzzy that way. If you look at the actual snow stats, winter snowfalls in SE WI always have been kind of up and down. This past winter was especially snowy in Milwaukee, with the Brew City picking up approximately 60 inches of snowfall...first major snowfall was in early December (approx. 8 inches) and last major snowfall was in mid-April (approx. 8 inches) - yes, snow in April, especially of that magnitude, is very rare here.

The winter of 2000 saw 40+ inches of snow fall in December - again, that was an aberration but it happens.

In general, you could count on likely anywhere between 25 to 60 inches of snowfall in a winter. Roughly the same snowfall amount on average that Denver, CO receives, however, unlike Denver, the snowfall here melts much less briskly. Having said that, snow removal here is very quick and efficient.

December through February are very cold months, especially when compared to most of Cali. Many, many days do not even ever get above freezing (32 degrees) for a high, and there likely will be a patch of days where the high is only 10 - 15 degrees.

Temperature averages in winter from the Weather Channel (National and Local Weather Forecast, Radar, Map and Report) -

November: AVE HIGH 46 / AVE LOW 31
December: AVE HIGH 33 / AVE LOW 19
January: AVE HIGH 27 / AVE LOW 13
February: AVE HIGH 32 / AVE LOW 18
March: AVE HIGH 42 / AVE LOW 27

See the whole year average for yourself:

Average Weather for Milwaukee, WI - Temperature and Precipitation

So is winter cold? Check. Long? Check. Snowy? Check, although admittedly that varies quite a bit from year-to-year.

What else is bad about it? The grayness. This is where a Denver winter has a Milwaukee/Chicago winter beat...whereas Denver is cold and snowy in the winter, it is also generally still sunny. Here, from November through March, you'll see the sun...some days (maybe 40% of the time is a good average). However, many, many days are thick gray.

Have I sufficiently depressed you enough? Not trying to. I just lived for 4 years in one of the great American climates - Albuquerque, NM - and relocated back to metro Milwaukee; why? it is a great place to live, regardless of the winters. I have often heard it said that if it weren't for the winters, Milwaukee would be one of the best cities in the US.

But, especially with you coming from Cali, you do need to know what you are in for winter-wise. It is indeed one of the significant drawbacks to living here for most people.

Now...remember, Chicago (3rd biggest city in US...9+ millions people metro), Twin Cities (3+ million metro - quickly growing), metro Detroit (5+ million people metro), Cleveland (2 million people metro), Indianapolis (2 million people metro), etc., etc., etc., join Milwaukee (2 million people metro) in sharing these winter "delights"...so it isn't like Milwaukeeans are alone in their winter sufferings. I guess if not "misery loves company", what I am trying to convey is that a huge chunk of the US population lives with it and deals with it yearly, so it isn't like only Milwaukeeans encumber these winter sufferings. People do do it!

I should also state that the trade off for the bad 6 months of weather here is that there are 6 great months of weather here. Summers are very pleasant and mild (Milwaukee averages only 9 days per year where it hits 90 degrees or more), and falls are quite picturesque and pleasant...late springs very nice too.

Metro Milwaukee is a great area and a great place to live. If you can suck it up for the 6 bad months of weather - maybe plan one or two getaway trips during this time to knock it down more to 5 months - then relish the 6 great months of weather, you'll really be okay because lots of other things here make up for the weather!

[adam76]

Originally Posted by EnjoyEP

Metro Milwaukee is a great area and a great place to live. If you can suck it up for the 6 bad months of weather - maybe plan one or two getaway trips during this time to knock it down more to 5 months - then relish the 6 great months of weather, you'll really be okay because lots of other things here make up for the weather!

Winter has it's own charm and for me, the change over from summer to fall to winter never gets old. Our family enjoys our weather from May through January, the February - March - April stretch is the only time it really gets us down.

Weather only goes so far towards quality of life, other than that it is a great place to live. Business travel has taken me to many places and while the occasional January conference in Miami is nice, it's always great to be back.

[escapetacoma]

Originally Posted by EnjoyEP

So is winter cold? Check. Long? Check. Snowy? Check, although admittedly that varies quite a bit from year-to-year.

What else is bad about it? The grayness. This is where a Denver winter has a Milwaukee/Chicago winter beat...whereas Denver is cold and snowy in the winter, it is also generally still sunny. Here, from November through March, you'll see the sun...some days (maybe 40% of the time is a good average). However, many, many days are thick gray.

Whew!! I've been getting some really strange percentages from people trying to tell me that it's always gray in Waupun, November through April OTOH, I've had people tell me that most days there's at least a little sun and that there are plenty of real sunny days. I'll be quite happy somewhere in the middle.

If you're allergic to gray days stay away from the Puget Sound region at all costs. You won't have a prayer of seeing the sun on 40% of the days from late October to late April - you'd be very lucky to see it 20% of the days and most of those sightings will be such brief sunbreaks that you'll swear that they didn't happen Despite the popular image of Seattle as getting a lot of rain many, many places in the US get more. There aren't too many that have more rainy days, though, and even fewer that have fewer sunny days.

[Fishtacos]

Spring is the key to weather in the Upper Midwest. It is a deal breaker for many, others don't mind.

It really doesn't get "nice" in WI with any sort of consistency until June, as far as temps and sunshine. A few months of bitter cold winter(all about the wind btw) and one is ready for 60's and 70's of sunshine in Spring in March and April and even May and often times it doesn't happen. Snow won't be your major issue. Dark short days of cold temps with winds whipping off of lakes might bother you a great deal.

Summers are very nice and pleasant. Fall imo is overrated, but not bad.

It will be a major adjustment from CA.

It isn't as bad as stereotyped but it gets cold and dark a lot in winter and Spring, ...there is no denying that.

[Drover]

I'd say the weather has been bad in Wisconsin lately. Too many winters so warm that the lakes are only solid enough for ice fishing in the very northern part of the state; too many winters where there wasn't enough snow for snowmobilers and XC skiers. That's bad for the tourist industry and bad for the economy... bring back our cold snowy winters!