Transcript Looking at Wisconsin`s Weather and Climate

Excerpts from
Wisconsin’s Weather and
Climate
Packerland AMS Meeting
16 September 2000
• Joe Moran
Ed Hopkins
• Univ. of Wisconsin- Univ. of WisconsinGreen Bay
Madison
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
1
Did You Know That...
• The naturalist John Muir made weather
observations at North Hall in the early
1860s?
• Eric Miller of the U.S. Weather Bureau
Madison City Office had one of the earliest
public weather broadcasts in the country
from WHA (starting in 1920)?
• Wisconsin naturalist Increase A. Lapham
(of Milwaukee) is often called the
“father of the U.S. Weather Bureau”
as he championed it 1870 creation?
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
2
Did You Know That...
• Hilda Goodrich of the Green Bay USWB
office, was first woman to run a Weather
Bureau Office (1943-1944)?
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
3
Did You Know That...
• The first weather observations in
Wisconsin were made by the post
surgeons at Army Forts in the 1820s?
• These observations were at Fort
Howard (Green Bay), Fort Crawford
(Prairie du Chien) and Fort
Winnebago (Portage)?
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
4
Did You Know That...
• More than 200 official observation
stations currently collect temperature
and precipitation data across Wisconsin
on a daily basis?
• Jacob Lups and his daughter Johana
made nearly continuous daily weather
observations at Manitowoc
between 1851 & 1933?
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
5
Did You Know That...
• The highest temperature recorded in
– Wisconsin was 114°F at Wisconsin Dells on
13 July 1936?
– Madison was 107°F at North Hall on
14 July 1936 ?
• The lowest temperature recorded in
– Wisconsin was -55°F near Couderay on
4 February 1996?
– Madison was -37°F at Truax Field
30 Jan 1951?
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
6
History of Madison Weather
Observations
• The Early Era:
– 1850s and 1860s: Observations by Professors
J. Sterling and S. Carpenter at North Hall and
University Hall.
– 1878-1883: Observations on Capitol Square by
U.S. Army Signal Service.
– 1883-1904: Observations by UW
Astronomy Dept. at
Washburn Observatory.
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
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History of Madison Weather
Observations (con’t.)
• The Modern Era
– 1904-1963: Observations on roof of North Hall by
U.S. Weather Bureau.
– 1940-Present: Observations at Dane County
Regional Airport (formerly Truax Field) by U.S.
Weather Bureau, now known as National
Weather Service.
[Note: Official climate record for Madison
switched from North Hall to Airport about 1948]
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
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Increase Lapham
• Epilogue
– KEC-60 transmitter at Lapham Peak State Park.
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
9
Increase Lapham
• First Official Forecasted Storm Warning
(issued 8 Nov 1870)
"High wind all day yesterday at Cheyenne and Omaha;
a very high wind this morning at Omaha; barometer
falling with high winds at Chicago and Milwaukee
today; barometer falling and thermometer rising at
Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo and
Rochester; high winds probable along the Lakes."
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
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• At 7:35 a.m., November 1St, 1870,
simultaneous weather observations were
taken at 24 locations and telegraphed to
several cities, bringing a national weather
service, called the Division of Telegrams
and Reports, into being for the benefit of
commerce.
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
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Wisconsin State Climatology Office
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Increase Lapham
• 1811-1875
• Also State Geologist (1873-75)
• Helped found
– Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters
– State Historical Society
– Milwaukee Female Seminar (Downer College)
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
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Increase Lapham
•
[Act of Feb. 9, 1870, Sess. II, Res. 12, 16 Stat. 369 (1870)]
•
FORTY-FIRST CONGRESS. SESS. II. RES. 8, 12, 13, 15, 16. 1870. 569
•
[No. 12.] Joint Resolution to authorize the Secretary of War to provide for taking meteorological
Observations at the military Stations and other Points in the Interior of the Continent, and for giving
Notice on the northern Lakes and Seaboard of the Approach and Force of Storms.
•
Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War be, and he hereby is, authorized and required to
provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent,
and at other points in the States and Territories of the United States, and for giving notice on the
northern lakes and on the sea-coast, by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and
force of storms.
APPROVED, February 9, 1870.
•
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
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Increase Lapham
• To General Halbert E. Paine, Congressman
for Milwaukee. In one letter Lapham asked
if it were not "...the duty of the Government
to see whether anything can be done to
prevent, at least, some portion of this sad
loss in the future...?"
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
15
The Forts
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Where/Why/When
Picture of Ft. Howard
Orders from Tilton
Instruments/Instructions
Data Compilation/Distribution
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
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Glacial Climates of Wisconsin
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
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Weather and the Peshtigo Fire
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
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