A mild pattern will settle into Wisconsin beginning on Thursday and end on Monday with high temperatures between 57 and 75 degrees each day in the Milwaukee area. There will be a lot of sunshine through the weekend before showers return late on Sunday and rain comes back by Monday. This looks like the perfect weekend for driving around the state is search of those beautiful fall leaf colors, which should be spectacular in northern central regions.

Yesterday was the anniversary of two of the most well known fires in the history of the Great lakes, the Great Chicago fire and the Peshtigo fire which occurred back in 1871. A major drought plagued both states and the areas were tinder-dry, a perfect scenario for a forest or any type of fire. The Chicago fire destroyed a large portion of that city killing two hundred and fifty people and caused 196 million dollars damage. The Peshtigo fire destroyed hundreds of acres of timberland and roared into the town of Peshtigo on the evening of the 8th. The casualty count was much greater than the Chicago inferno with more than one thousand fatalities.

Many weather records were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire and that is why a good deal of the current weather data dates back to only 1871.