![\"Graphic:](\"https:\/\/news.wisc.edu\/content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Monthly-precipitation.jpg\")
<\/a>Compared to the decade from 1981 to 1990, Madison has experienced an average of eight additional inches of precipitation a year since 2011. Four of Wisconsin\u2019s five wettest years have taken place in the last decade, and 2019 was the soggiest year for both Wisconsin and the entire contiguous U.S.<\/a> since record keeping began in 1895. This new normal was on stark display in 2018, when Dane County was deluged with record-breaking rainfall<\/a> that caused hundreds of millions of dollars<\/a> in damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Warmer temperatures are also increasingly normal. Overnight low temperatures have risen more than daily high temperatures, especially from May through December. On average, December has been six degrees warmer since 2011 than it was in the 1980s. The new 30-year average for the month will add about two degrees to the previous average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Madison\u2019s expanding urban footprint likely accounts for some of that extra warmth. Dane County has added 200,000 residents since 1980, and city centers, with fewer trees<\/a> and more heat-amplifying asphalt and concrete<\/a>, tend to be warmer than rural areas. Increased greenhouse gas accumulation also contributes to the warming trend, which has consequences both for energy costs and agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDuring this decade, we\u2019ve seen delayed frosts and freezes throughout the region. That will have an impact on growing seasons,\u201d and many farmers now consider September the fourth month of summer, says Gerth. Since 1971, Madison has gained more than 30 frost-free days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The newly balmy Novembers and Decembers are accompanied by less snowfall. But that shortage is more than made up for with heavier snows in January and February. The upshot is that an average of two additional inches of snow a year has fallen on Madison since 2011 compared to the 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Madison has another winter climate record: its lakes. Since 1855, UW\u2013Madison and Wisconsin State Climatology Office<\/a> researchers have dutifully recorded when lakes Mendota and Monona freeze and thaw each year. The record now includes Lake Wingra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want to continue tracking lake ice as long as we can, because while it\u2019s not a temperature record, it\u2019s an indication of how the climate is changing,\u201d says Ed Hopkins, who keeps a close eye on the lakes as assistant state climatologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hopkins travels a route around the city during the winter to visually inspect all three lakes from multiple vantage points. Lakes Monona and Wingra are considered closed when they are at least half covered with ice for a full day or more. Lake Mendota\u2019s size and irregular shoreline make it difficult to see across the entire surface. So, according to tradition<\/a>, the lake is closed, or considered frozen, when a boat can no longer be rowed from Picnic Point to Maple Bluff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The average duration of ice on Lake Mendota has shrunk by about three weeks since record keeping began. The lake froze for the season on Jan. 12, 2020. The latest the lake has ever closed was on Jan. 30, 1932.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a>