You never quite know what to expect when it comes to Wisconsin weather. What will summer bring? Mild or roasting? Humid or dry? Calm or stormy? We spoke to local meteorologists to see what the summer of ’24 might look like.
First off, it seems that storms are on the horizon.
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
“We’ve had an extremely active early season here when it comes to severe thunderstorms and tornadoes,” says Tom Wachs, chief meteorologist at Fox6. “I’ve been in television for 21 years – and I’ve worked several years in Tornado Alley – and this is the most active in my career anywhere that I’ve worked.”
Through June 17, Southeast Wisconsin has had 57 severe thunderstorm warnings and 22 tornado warnings since Feb. 8, which marked the first February tornado on record in the state. Wisconsin has also seen 24 tornadoes so far, when it normally averages 23 in an entire year.
That’s due, in part, to a particularly wet and warm spring. According to the National Weather Service, it was the third-wettest spring in Milwaukee’s recorded history dating back to the 1800s, with Milwaukee getting over 15 inches of rain. Thunderstorms thrive in the warm, humid environment, according to Wachs.
Temperature-wise, this summer may be a hot one.
“Wisconsin’s three-month temperature outlook is leaning toward above-average temperature,” says Brooke Brighton, a meteorologist with Spectrum News.
She notes that the approaching “La Niña” will start to impact upcoming weather. La Niña is a climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean that affects weather worldwide – trade winds grow stronger, pushing warm water toward Asia. “La Niña is expected to kick in as early as June, but will have a more significant impact heading into late summer and early fall, especially for the fall and winter months,” Brighton says.
We’re coming off a period of La Niña’s opposite pattern, El Niño, when trade winds weaken.
“We had a very mild winter around here. Coming off of El Niño winters, sometimes can lead to warm summers,” Wachs says. “When you get warmer air that comes in, it can hold more water, so that can increase humidity levels as well.”
Brighton notes that early weather predictions, of course, remain uncertain.
“When you’re looking at long range outlooks or long range models, it’s going to give you some guidance of what you could expect, but once you get to a closer time period, a few days in advance, that’s when the forecast is going to be more accurate.”
