MADISON, Wis. — This week, Madison experienced its biggest temperature swing in history.
This came as temperatures reached a high of 70 degrees on Tuesday and dropped to 11 degrees early Wednesday morning: A 59 degree difference.
Diane Schwartz is a Madison resident who, despite the cold temperatures on Wednesday, was out for a walk with friends.
“It is a lot colder today. It feels like January; it feels like a cold January day today. Yesterday it felt like May,” said Schwartz.
Schwartz has lived in Wisconsin for most of her life and during that time she said winters have been inconsistent.
“I would say this year we are having a really early spring and we did not have much snow and certainly did not have much ice. I didn’t go ice skating once this year,” said Schwartz.
Schwartz was not the only one feeling the temperature change.
Rhett Cisler works at Reverie Baking Company on Madison’s East Side.
He said on Tuesday when temperatures were in the 70s, business was very busy.
“A lot of people were walking here. It is a very walkable neighborhood,” said Cisler.
He said with the drastic temperature usually comes a drastic change in business.
“People don’t come in super early when it is cold out because a lot of people walk, so if it is too cold they won’t come in,” said Cisler.
Dominique Brossard is a professor in the department of life sciences communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She said she expects weather like this to be more common moving forward.
“It is not that the climate changes slowly with gradual temperature. It is more disruptive and we have more extreme weather events,” said Brossard.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, agriculture in Wisconsin contributes over $100 billion a year in revenue and employs 12% of the state’s workers.
Brossard said these weather patterns will have direct impacts on that industry and stressed the importance of acknowledging this is happening.
“It takes ten years to grow a Christmas tree, right? So you need to think now of what you are going to do in 10 years, so it is time to begin to adapt and think about this kind of thing,” said Brossard.
As long as Wisconsinites work together to come up with solutions, she said she doesn’t believe there is anything to worry about.
“I think it is a call of action for people. This is happening; therefore, we need to adapt. We need climate policy. We need to actually go to renewal and so on,” said Brossard.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said Dominique Brossard is a professor in the department of life sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a professor in the department of life sciences communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This has been corrected. (March 1, 2024)