Wisconsin Cities and Towns
The Badger State  30th State

Climate & Weather:

The Wisconsin climate is typically continental with some modification by Lakes Michigan and Superior. The cold, snowy winters favor a variety of winter sports, and the warm summers appeal to thousands of vacationers each year. About two-thirds of the annual precipitation falls during the growing season (freeze-free period). It is normally adequate for vegetation, although drought is occasionally reported. The climate is most favorable for dairy farming; the primary crops are corn, small grains, hay, and vegetables. The rapid succession of storms moving from west to east and southwest to northeast account for the stimulating climate.

The average annual temperature varies from 39 F in the north to about 50 F in the south. The highest temperature ever recorded in Wisconsin was 114 F at Wisconsin Dells on July 13, 1936, and the lowest temperature on record was minus 55 F, reported from Couderay on both February 2 and February 4, 1996.

During more than one-half of the winters, temperatures fall to minus 40 F or lower, and almost every winter temperatures of minus 30 or colder are reported from northern stations. Summer temperatures above 90 average 2 to 4 days in northern counties and about 14 days in southern districts. During marked cool outbreaks in summer months, the central lowlands occasionally report freezing temperatures.

The long-term mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 34 inches over most of the Western Uplands and Northern Highlands, then diminishes to about 28 inches along most of the Wisconsin Central Plain and Lake Superior Coastal area. The higher average annual precipitation coincides generally with the highest elevations, particularly the windward slopes of the Western Uplands and Northern Highlands. Thunderstorms average about 30 per year in northern Wisconsin to about 40 per year in southern counties, and occur mostly in the summer. Occasional hail, wind, and lightning damage are also reported.

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Firsts, Facts, Trivia:  

Wisconsin has over 14,000 lakes, with Lake Winnebago the largest. It also has 7,446 streams and rivers, which if you stuck them end to end they'd stretch nearly 27,000 miles--enough to circle the whole planet.

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Featured Tourist Spots:

Old World Wisconsin - America's Largest Outdoor Museum of Rural Life.  An open-air museum of Americas rural Heartland, Old World Wisconsin includes an 1870s crossroads village and an assortment of ethnic farmsteads that portray Wisconsins history of immigration and resettlement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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Wisconsin History:

Wisconsin was first inhabited by varied Indian tribes in the 17th century. They included the Algonquian-speaking Menominee, Kickapoo, Miami, the Siouan-speaking Winnebago, Dakota (or Sioux) and Iowa. In the mid-1600's other groups entered Wisconsin, including the Fox, Sac, Potawatomi and Ojibewa (Chippewa).

The Wisconsin region was first explored for France by Jean Nicolet, who landed at Green Bay in 1634. Jean Nicolet, a native of France, was the first explorer to reach the area while searching for the Northwest Passage to China in 1634. The French lost possession of Wisconsin and all of it's territories east of the Mississippi to Great Britain during the French and Indian War.

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