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Friday, Dec. 9, 2022

Are Wisconsin winters getting warmer?


yes

In a 2021 report commissioned by Gov. Tony Evers, scientists at the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts concluded that the state is getting warmer, “especially in the winter.”

The partnership between the University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the state Department of Natural Resources found that “warming is happening fastest in the winter and at night.”

Winter warming is most apparent in northern Wisconsin, where temperatures are up 4-6 degrees Fahrenheit since 1950. Researchers also found fewer extreme cold periods below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

Winter temperatures are also expected to increase an additional 5 to 11 degrees by 2050, "meaning winters will be milder, about one month shorter than they are today, and will produce about 14 fewer inches of snow," according to the DNR.

Warmer winters are expected to impact forest ecosystems, farmers and seasonal sports such as skiing.

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

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