Wisconsin
Capital City Sunday: What to make the secretary of state; what Wisconsin should know about direct democracy
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Wisconsin
Where’s all the snow? Milwaukee, Madison had their driest Januarys on record
If you’ve noticed a lack of snow for skiing and other winter activities in Wisconsin this winter, there’s new data to prove that observation: Milwaukee and Madison had their driest Januarys on record.
Milwaukee saw about 3.1 inches of snow in January, compared to its normal 14.9 inches. That’s about 12 inches fewer than typical. There was a smidgen of rainfall — 0.14 inches — which is about an inch and a half fewer than normal.
Most snow that fell in Milwaukee last month was in trace amounts. The largest single-day snowfall was Jan. 22, but only 1.3 total inches fell that day.
Why is Wisconsin getting so little snow this winter? It’s partly because snow systems are tracking further north or south and missing Wisconsin, explained National Weather Service meteorologist Taylor Patterson.
“A lot of people here have been talking about how if you look at a satellite for snow, Minnesota has snow, Illinois and Michigan do. There’s a bit of a bubble in some parts of the Midwest, where we don’t really have a lot,” she said.
January 2025 also tied for the driest on record for Madison — the other was in 1903. Madison received about 1.9 inches of snowfall, also about 12 inches fewer than the normal 13.7 inches. The city got around 0.10 inches of rain, compared to a normal 1.47 inches.
“Back when a lot of the Gulf Coast had their snow event, that was more snow than we saw. So, it’s been an interesting winter, for sure,” Patterson said.
Low precipitation can increase fire risk from lack of snowpack. Last year, wildfires started in Wisconsin earlier than normal because much of the state did not have snow by February.
There were a couple brush fires in Wisconsin last week, including in Blue Mounds on Jan. 30 and in Suamico on Jan. 28, which burned about 12 acres. The lack of snow caused the ground to become drier than usual, Suamico’s fire chief said.
What’s the temperature, precipitation outlook for February in Wisconsin?
Temperatures in Milwaukee and Madison for January, however, were around or a little below the normal amounts. That’s despite both cities setting a high temperature record on Jan. 30 at 56 degrees in Milwaukee and 57 degrees in Madison.
The Climate Prediction Center’s monthly outlook doesn’t provide a strong indication whether February will have temperatures at, above or below normal in Wisconsin. But there is a slight chance for above-normal precipitation.
But if the dry conditions persist, that could cause issues. “If we continue to see no precipitation, (that) could lead to the return of some drought conditions come spring,” Patterson said.
Meanwhile, the goats at the Milwaukee County Zoo didn’t see their shadows on Groundhog Day, predicting an early spring, rather than six more weeks of winter.
We’ll leave it to you whether to trust the weather service forecast or the goats.
Wisconsin
Gophers men’s hockey team accelerates away from Wisconsin, sweeps series
For nearly 2½ periods Saturday night, the record crowd of 10,894 at 3M Arena at Mariucci saw the Gophers men’s hockey team locked into a scoreless tie with Wisconsin. Battles along the boards, contested passes and big saves were common, and it appeared that the next goal not only would be a big one but just might be the only one.
Instead, a four-goal surge by Minnesota in the final 10:44 of the third period enabled the Gophers to not only display a gritty game but also show off their offensive power in a 4-1 victory for a series sweep of the Badgers.
“From start to finish, our guys were committed to their shifts,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. “… It’s kind of fun to see our team be back to what we knew we could do.”
The fourth-ranked Gophers improved to 21-6-3 overall and 12-4-2 in the Big Ten. They have 38 points in conference play, two behind first-place Michigan State.
Entering the weekend, the Gophers were 14-0 when they scored four or more goals but just 5-6-3 when not reaching that mark. So, 49 minutes of scoreless hockey against a team that enjoys locking down a game provided a test of Minnesota’s mettle. Consider it passed, even with the deceiving three-goal margin.
“Earlier in the year, we’d get frustrated and kind of lose ourselves and lose our game and just start worrying about scoring,” said junior forward Connor Kurth, who had two goals and an assist. “And I think now we’re understanding that playoff hockey is going to be tight, and we’ve got to start playing that way.”
With goalie Liam Souliere making 26 saves and helping his defensive corps with solid puck movement, the Gophers didn’t blink, biding time for an offensive outburst. It came in the third period, right after a Minnesota power play expired, when Matthew Wood took a feed from Brody Lamb and snapped a shot from the slot past Badgers goalie Tommy Scarfone for a 1-0 lead as the crowd roared in approval.
It didn’t take long for Kurth to make it 2-0. At 11:21, his shot from the left point beat Scarfone. “I was honestly trying to pass it to Woody,” said Kurth, who added an empty-net goal with 2:15 left in the third. “I was going for a little pass of the pad because I saw him crashing the net. Sometimes, they go in like that.”
Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s sandhill cranes are beautiful but damage our crops. Let hunting help. | Opinion
In addition to crane festivals and viewings, hunting can honor the bird — and carefully manage flocks while funding more conservation.
Sandhill cranes along the Wisconsin River
The sights and sounds of cranes congregating along the Wisconsin River.
Provided by Aldo Leopold Foundation
The sandhill crane descending on the Wisconsin countryside is a beautiful thing.
Its gray wings are long and graceful, and it doesn’t swoop — it floats in, like a cloud slipping from the sky. Its forehead is a proud red. It often travels in pairs, because it tends to prefer one mate for life. And it is prone to dance, bowing and leaping in a ritual that it has honed for eons as one of Earth’s oldest animals.
The problem is in between, it eats the hell out of your local farmer’s crops.
That’s the rub that has made such a striking bird the subject of fierce political debate as Wisconsin considers a sandhill crane season this year. As a farm boy and a conservationist, I’m here to tell you the reality: If we want to save the sandhill crane, it’s time to organize a responsible hunt. At the root of this argument is the idea that hunting is conservation — one I know not everyone who loves the sandhill crane supports. But for the sake of our gray feathered friend, I hope you’ll hear me out and reserve hate mail for the end.
Regulated hunting and conservation have protected endangered wildlife
Good hunters know that to continue to enjoy their way of life, a hunt must have boundaries so that our natural resources of woods, water, and game can persist. It’s the reason our country did away with unregulated hunting in favor of seasons and bag limits. It’s the reason hunters fund so much conservation, not only through government license fees, but also through voluntary organizations like Ducks Unlimited that have literally restored or conserved millions of acres of natural habitat, and raised billions of dollars. And it’s the path for transforming a once protected bird into a sustainable success story.
Almost wiped out in the 1800s by unregulated hunting and habitat loss, the sandhill crane has since surged to more than 1 million, with experts of all stripes acknowledging stable populations in Wisconsin and numerous other states. Reported crop damage in Wisconsin, meanwhile, has reached more than $2 million annually, mainly corn and wheat.
Now, the crane is at a crossroads. It can go the way of the sustainable success story, like the whitetail deer, the wild turkey and the duck, all persisting in Wisconsin as a beloved animal that nature-lovers and hunters alike are able to appreciate in abundance. Or, it can go the way of the invasive presence like the coyote in Wisconsin, the wild boar in many parts of the country, and other animals facing open season — without limits — to thin them out.
Comparing the sandhill crane to a mangy coyote is where some may get hot, if they’re not already, given the crane’s history and beauty. Yes, there are reasons particular to coyote and boar that they’re capable of becoming so problematic. But let’s not insult the clever coyote — also a sight to behold slipping from field to woods in the early morning — or the proud boar once held in high regard by western civilization.
Gray wolves show how attitudes about animal’s can change
And we’ve seen how attitudes about animals can change.
Consider the gray wolf, once deeply endangered, now going off and on the endangered species list depending upon which political party is in power. The crane is headed toward similar division. The first time I saw a crane was as a kid in the 1990s, when my mom told me the story of their recovery as two cranes drifted across an evening field, then issued their softly purring trumpet of a call before taking flight. I remember her gasping at their beauty. Today I usually hear them referred to as “those dang things,” if profanity isn’t involved, as they ravage farmers’ fields.
A responsible hunt — with well-timed seasons to protect the hatching of new cranes, bag limits, and fees to fund game law enforcement and even more conservation — can prevent this. Keeping the crane in its hallowed, no-hunt status for too long simply leaves it vulnerable to future generations not giving a damn what happens to it.
This spring, North America’s sandhill cranes will begin their great journey north, from as far south as Mexico. They’ll rest on the Platte River in Nebraska near the sandhills that gave them their name, a sight National Geographic calls “one of the greatest wildlife phenomena in North America.” Then they’ll stop off in the fertile fields of Wisconsin.
You can believe that nature is a delicate ecosystem, with a natural balance that we must protect to preserve such a sight. I certainly do. All I’m saying is, mankind is a part of that balance.
Brian Reisinger is a writer who grew up on a family farm in Sauk County. He contributes columns and videos for the Ideas Lab at the Journal Sentinel, and is the author of “Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family’s Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer.” Reisinger works in public affairs consulting for Wisconsin-based Platform Communications. He splits his time between Sacramento, Calif. — America’s “farm-to-fork capital,” near his wife’s family — and the family farm in Wisconsin. You can find him on X at @BrianJReisinger
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