What makes a good place to live?

Maybe it’s affordable housing and a strong local economy, or access to quality schools and health care, or even healthy air quality and a low chance of extreme weather.

These were all among the metrics U.S. News & World Report measured in its latest ranking of the best places to live in the United States. Of the 250 cities named in the list, 14 in Wisconsin made the cut.

U.S. News & World Report named Eau Claire the top Wisconsin city to live in and the 49th-best city overall. Appleton wasn’t far behind, ranking as the 53rd-best place nationwide. Milwaukee, meanwhile, placed at the bottom of the list of Wisconsin cities.

Here’s what else to know about the rankings:

Here are the best places to live in Wisconsin, according to U.S. News & World Report

These 14 cities are the best places to live in Wisconsin, according to U.S. News & World Report:

MILWAUKEE – Tornado Alley has been expanding eastward as climate data shows the increased activity in tornadoes, damaging winds, and hail events. 

The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and Storm Prediction Center (SPC) released the probability of these events occurring within 25 miles of any location based on historical data. 

Changes in Tornado Alley

What we know:

Annual probability of a tornado from 1955-2024. 70-year climate data. 

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Tornado Alley was originally known as a concentrated area across the Great Plains including parts of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. New tornado data shows that a much larger portion of the United States is now included in tornado alley compared to before. Higher probability areas show where tornadoes have been more consistent over time.  

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It is fair to say that tornado alley is expanded eastward based on climate data. Darker areas on the maps above show where there is more likelihood for tornadoes to occur, but the darker color has shifted. New locations include central and eastern portions of the United States, with some of the higher probability areas including the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys. 

What does this mean for Wisconsin?

By the numbers:

Over a 30-year climate period, data shows a 70% to 80% probability of any tornado in Wisconsin has shifted slightly southwest. However, over the past frequency of weaker tornadoes has slightly increased. 

The chance for severe winds (60mph or greater) has moderately increased, with 70% to 80% probability in southwestern Wisconsin, and 50% to 60% probability in southeastern Wisconsin. The chance for hail greater than or equal to half an inch has significantly increased 80% to 90%.  

Each severe weather season is different based on a variety of factors. However, climatology data helps meteorologists recognize patterns to adapt, understand, and prepare for severe weather events. 

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The overall trend will be more frequent storm system that can bring southern Wisconsin more frequent but weaker tornadoes, hail, and damaging wind events. Keep in mind that severe weather can happen at any time of the year—even the winter months. 

Like most of you, I witnessed what seemed in the moment to be an absolute heist of a loss for the Wisconsin Badgers in Bloomington in their 78-77 loss to the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday afternoon.

At the end of both regulation and overtime, there were calls from a Michael Reed, Michael Irving, and Larry Scirotto crew that objectively seemed against Wisconsin, and it’s indisputable that Indiana would have suffered a tough home loss without a number of these whistles going the Hoosiers’ way, especially late.

The two calls that ended up being the flashpoints were: (1) a charge on Nick Boyd with 15.1 left in overtime after he’d been fouled at least twice dribbling with the ball, including by the Hoosier defender at the time of the whistle, and (2) a blocking violation whistled on John Blackwell when an apparently out of control Lamar Wilkerson went down in the lane with 2.8 seconds remaining (his free throws won the game for IU).

In real time, both calls appeared to be horrific and/or unusual and sent Wisconsin fans into a rage over a win that seemed to be stolen away.

With some time to reflect, here’s where I am.

The officiating in this contest definitely favored Indiana, especially in clutch moments. There were at least 10 occasions where a soft or apparently incorrect call went against Wisconsin. In a one-point overtime loss, it’s very hard to argue that this didn’t matter in the outcome. And typical Big Ten Home Cooking, which the Badgers themselves have benefited from many times, can’t fully explain things here.

For example, the charge whistled on Boyd with Indiana’s Conor Enright fused to him like a Siamese Twin is called a block on the defender 90+ percent of the time. It was a legitimately bad call in a big moment. The Blackwell foul is more nuanced, after another angle surfaced that showed him stepping on Wilkerson’s foot. The problem is that wasn’t why the foul was called. It was a simple blocking call on Blackwell, so in a sense, the refs were retroactively bailed out. It probably should have been a foul on Blackwell, but not for the reason the whistle blew.

Greg Gard and the Badgers were 100% correct to have felt cheated. Gard tersely noted in his postgame presser that, “I’ve never seen anything like that.” But it’s my responsibility to point out that the Badgers allowed a good team playing at home to race to a 14-point lead, as well as score oodles of points in the paint.

So, a good portion of the blame for this loss must rest at Wisconsin’s own feet. Playing really well for large stretches in the second half, especially on defense, isn’t a free pass for yet another subpar start by Gard’s squad. This simply must get fixed and quickly, given the gauntlet of top Big Ten teams the Badgers are about to face, starting at No. 8 Illinois Tuesday night.

If I’m Greg Gard, my advice to the team is to flush and move on from Bloomington and focus on playing a full game with no slow starts against Illinois. That’s the game that matters now, not Indiana.