2024 was the hottest year on record in Milwaukee and one of the wettest
2024 has come to a close and the numbers are coming in! A few of these stats like the average temperature and total precipitation we were tracking all year long in the Ready Weather center as it looked like we would be chasing records and we did indeed top those records. The average temperature all year long in Milwaukee was 52.8 degrees which beat 2023 as the hottest year on record which is over four degrees over the 30-year average. It is the first time in recorded history that back-to-back years have been the hottest year on record.
How did we get to be the warmest year on record? We broke a number of long-standing temperature records including a record number of low temperatures above 32 degrees and at/above 40 degrees as well as the record number of days with highs both above 50 degrees and above 60 degrees. We were also in the top five in number of days above 30 degrees, 40 degrees and 70 degrees.
In addition to those temperature records, we hit a number of daily warm temperature records. We broke eight record high temperatures and 12 records warmest low temperature records. We did not break any cold records either for coldest high or record lows.
2024 saw some ups and downs when it came to precipitation. After a very wet start to the year kicked off by a very wet January, dry February then extremely wet March, we stayed wet through the start of summer then started to dry out in the fall months. May was the wettest month but March was the most above average for precipitation. February was the driest month followed by December. Drought conditions started to creep back in for the second half of summer and have stayed with us through the end of the year.
When all was in the record books on December 31st, the wet months won out and the year ended with 38.75" of precipitation which is over 4" above the average and wet enough to go down as the 18th wettest year on record.
We typically look at snow records on a "winter" basis from our snowy season of September to May, but you can also look at it from a calendar level. In 2024 from January 1st to December 31st we lacked in snowfall with exactly 37" of snow which is over 10" below the calendar year average of 48.7". It goes down as the 47th least snowy calendar year on record.
2024 was also very active for severe weather, at least for the start of the season. We saw our first February tornado on record in the state of Wisconsin and ended the year with 45 confirmed tornadoes, including three EF-2, which is good enough to be the third most on record and well above the statewide average of 23 during a year.
Download the CBS 58 Ready Weather app to see what 2025 has in store for us!