Winter 2022-23 recap: Warmer and wetter than usual

SHEBOYGAN – With spring now officially upon us, it is time to look back at one of the more unusual winters in recent years.

The statistics used in this article are gathered from National Weather Service data recorded in Sheboygan between Dec. 21, 2022 and March 19, 2023.  

Overall, the 2022-23 winter season was warmer and wetter than normal. It was also unbalanced, with over 70% of the season’s snowfall occurring in the last 26 days of the season.

Winter began with a rollercoaster ride through late December, with the season’s highest and lowest temperatures happening within a week of one another. The low of 9 degrees below zero occurred on Dec. 23, while the high of 55 degrees was recorded on both Dec. 29 and 30. For the first 11 days of winter, average highs and lows were both within 1.4 degrees of normal.

The last 11 days of December were also relatively dry, with 3.2 inches of snow, and 0.06 inches of liquid precipitation falling in Sheboygan.

The month of January was both warm and dry, with average highs 5.8 degrees above normal at 32.7, and average lows a whopping 12 degrees above normal at 23.8. In what is expected to be the coldest month of the season, daily high temperatures were above freezing for 18 of 31 days.

Precipitation was also low in January, with only 6.4 inches of snow and 0.72 inches of liquid precipitation.

February followed January’s trends in both temperatures and precipitation for the first two-thirds of the month. For 10 straight days from Feb. 6-15, daily highs were above freezing. This included seven days at 43 degrees or warmer.

Precipitation was also low for the first 21 days of the month, with only 4.6 inches of snow and 0.4 inches of liquid precipitation falling. Then winter became wetter and a lot whiter.

The last seven days of February saw 13.4 inches of snow and 2.07 inches of liquid precipitation, including storms that brought 8.1 inches of snow on Feb. 23 and 1.67 inches of rain on Feb. 27.

The erratic weather would continue through the first three weeks in March, as snowfall totaled 20.8 inches in the period. This included a season daily high of 10.5 inches on March 10, and a two-day total of 7.1 inches on March 12-13.

Temperatures in March were close to normal, with average highs of 37.3 and average lows of 23.3 degrees. Both were within 1.6 degrees of normal.

For the entire season, high temperatures were above freezing 56 of 89 days. There were also only three days with below-zero low temperatures.

Liquid precipitation was 1.42 inches above normal at 4.33. Snowfall totals reached 48.4 inches, which is not only above normal for the winter season, but also above the yearly average.