We have been experiencing a stretch of beautiful weather across Wisconsin this past week and right through the weekend in most locations. Leaves are beginning to change in northern locations and the nights are getting cool as the atmosphere has that autumn-like feel to it. Before you know it we will be talking about the first freeze and the first snowflake in southeast Wisconsin.

The last two weeks of September are generally much cooler than the first two weeks, but we have seen many days in the seventies recently. The record for earliest freeze in Milwaukee and earliest trace of snow occurred during the last two weeks of this month. The earliest freeze on record occurred on September 20th in 1956 when the thermometer dropped to thirty degrees. The earliest first non-measurable snowflake occurred on September 23rd in 1942 and was indicated in the record books as a trace.

These dates are far from the average which is October 20th for the first frost and October 28th for the average first trace of snow. The earliest measurable snowfall in Milwaukee occurred on October 6th in 1889 when a tenth of an inch accumulated. The earliest significant snowfall in Milwaukee struck on October 20th in 1989 when 6.3 inches accumulated. I hope this article gets you in the mood for what’s ahead.