You’re right. This has been an unusually cold winter.
Even an average winter would have felt pretty cold in comparison to last year’s mild winter. Instead, we’re suffering through our coldest winter since 1983-84.
For the purposes of record-keeping, winter is considered to be the months of December, January and February. With two of those months in the books, this winter’s average temperature has been 17.5 degrees. That makes this Milwaukee’s 14th coldest winter on record (since 1870) through the first two months.
Our coldest start to winter occurred in 1976-77 when the average temperature was 12.3 degrees.
Here are Milwaukee’s 15 coldest starts to winter:
Rank ... Avg. Temp ... Winter Season
1 ... 12.3 ... 1976-77
2 ... 14.1 ... 1876-77
3 ... 14.4 ... 1917-18
4 ... 15.1 ... 1962-63
5 ... 15.6 ... 1886-87
6(tie) - 16.0 1919-20
6(tie) ... 16.0 ... 1958-59
8(tie) ... 16.2 ... 1884-85
8(tie) ... 16.2 ... 1872-73
10(tie) ... 16.4 ... 1874-75
10(tie) ... 16.4 ... 1903-04
12 ... 16.6 ... 1983-84
13 ... 16.9 ... 1981-82
14 ... 17.5 ... 2013-14
15 ... 17.6 ... 1978-79
Craig is a meteorologist who was born and raised in Pewaukee. After getting a degree in Meteorology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he worked over 20 years on TV and radio in Milwaukee, Madison, Omaha, Nebraska and Kansas City, Missouri.
Craig spends most of his time trying to keep up with his bride and their three teenage daughters. Any time left over is spent with his other beloveds, the Packers, Brewers and Badgers.
