An analysis by Climate Central found that Milwaukee’s January temperatures have risen more than 8 degrees over the last 55 years.
The nonprofit organization researches climate change and how it affects people's lives. Its monthly climate summary features warming data and trends to increase public awareness of climate change.
The January 2026 summary found that since 1970, January temperatures in Milwaukee have gotten 8.3 degrees Fahrenheit hotter, reflecting an overall warming trend.
“Winters are warming fastest pretty much across the globe...for a number of reasons," says Climate Central research technician Brandon Bourassa. "One of the major factors is rapid arctic warming as sea ice and snow declines, especially in the winter season. Darker surfaces like open ocean and land are exposed and those surfaces absorb more heat and release is back to the atmosphere."
"That is why the arctic is amplifying so much of that winter warming and why we’re seeing it warming the fastest [compared to other seasons],” Bourassa says.
Milwaukee’s location on the shores of Lake Michigan adds another element of warming.
“As Lake Michigan is freezing over less often and overall ice cover has declined — with more open water exposed in the winter — the lake releases stored heat into the air, especially in early and mid-winter, and that added heat moderates these cold snaps like we had recently and it raises overnight temperatures,” Bourassa says.
Those factors have contributed to a sharp rise in winter temperature averages.
“You will begin to notice winters getting shorter and more mild with less consistent snow cover and more winter days above that freezing level,” Bourassa says. ”More of the precipitation is going to fall as rain instead of snow, particularly in late winter and early spring.”
The warming climate brings the increased risk of heavier downpours in summer, growing seasons that begin sooner, “but also at the same time greater weather volatility including heavy rain, thunderstorms, periods of extreme summer heat that could affect crop production,” Bourassa says.
He says as the impacts of climate change become more widely recognized, “people are increasingly connecting the dots between climate change in their own lives and the work that we’re doing kind of helps illuminate how that connection is made,” Bourassa says.
He says raising awareness about how our weather is changing and how it impacts our lives is key to pave the way toward solutions.
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