Spring is here, and it’s still cold. The chills and rain has us wondering: When was the last time Milwaukee saw a hotter day? We spoke with a local weather expert to find out.
The last time Milwaukeeans experienced an 80-degree day was right before Halloween on Oct. 29, 2024. Seeing temperatures this high in late October is unusual, the typical last 80-degree day is around Sept. 29.
“From looking at the current information we got, temperature wise, it looks like we’re in a cooler pattern through the next few days here,” says Tim Halbach, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service, “in terms of hitting 80 degrees, it doesn’t look like there’s anything on the horizon soon.”
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In 2024, the first 80-degree day was on April 27, placing it within a week of the typical time Milwaukee sees temperatures that high. The most recent earliest recording of elevated temperatures was the warm March of 2012, when the highest was 83° on March 20th.
“For over the past 10 years or so it looks like our first 80-degree day has been somewhere in April or early May,” says Halbach, “that’s been about where we’ve been at over the last 20 years or so.”
The longest streak of 80-degree weather in Milwaukee was in the summer of 1921 with 22 days straight of the temperature being at least 80 degrees or above.
Only three years later did Milwaukee have a much colder year when the city did not reach 80 degrees for 289 days straight in 1924.
With the winter weather officially starting to die down, Halbach was able to give an overall rundown of the cold temperatures. It looks like the temperature levels were normal and consistent with records from the past 20 years.
“For Milwaukee, our winter season would be considered to be near normal to below normal for temperatures. The average maximum temperature was 33.3 degrees which was 0.4 degrees below normal. The average minimum was 18.7 degrees which is 1.4 degrees below normal. Averaging that out, the mean temperature was 26 degrees, which is 0.9 degrees below normal.”
The average number of days with temperatures below freezing is 79 days, and Milwaukee had exactly 79 days this winter season.
The Midwest is known to have unpredictable weather that can change drastically any second. Halbach gives his predictions on how this summer will feel, noting these weather predictions remain uncertain, of course.
“Right now, the forecast for this summer, using the Climate Prediction Center for southern Wisconsin, there’s a greater chance that our temperatures are going to be above normal. It’s not a super strong signal, but the trend at the moment is that it’ll be above normal for temperature and higher chances for below normal precipitation.”
