For the Local Region
For the year 2008 as compiled through the records of
Joel Wiltrout, 011409.
It is now time to reflect back through the meteorological highlights of the year 2008. Are you ready? It was a long and bumpy road, so let’s get started!
2008 was cold in the Chippewa Valley. We should have taken a hint on New Year’s Day, which started out with falling temperatures and a midnight high, and then the first below-zero low for the year. That was the first of a total of 34 subzero lows for 2008, easily making it the year with the most lows below zero. The coldest low for the year, however, was not as impressive as some, bottoming out at only –16.6° on both January 23rd, and February 20. The coldest high didn’t break any records either, but still came in plenty cold at –3.3° on February 10.
2008 was known for more serious weather events than just cold weather, although there was plenty of that! The first tornado outbreak of the year occurred on January 7th, spinning twisters recklessly across Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois. A few were even reported as far north as Kenosha and Walworth counties in Wisconsin. That was the first, but definitely not the last major tornado outbreak across the nation’s midsection during the late winter months. By far, the most deadly outbreak of twisters occurred on February 5th across mainly Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee, leaving 59 dead, 31 in Tennessee alone. Despite the destruction across the South, Wisconsin was largely spared tornado damage in 2008.
March arrived, and winter stayed. It did however quit dropping below zero after the 7th of the month, and finally struggled above 50° for the first time on March 29th. It was the second coldest March on my records, second only to 2002.
April lived up to its reputation of being a volatile month. It started out with a 6 inch snowstorm during the night of March 31st.
Then, it did a steady climb up to 69.4° by April 5th. The second week of the month was only in the 40’s however, and featured a cake-mix storm that started
with ½ inch snow, then 2.4 inches rain, hail, some more rain, and another inch of snow. That storm finished, it warmed up again for a week, shooting up to 81.3° on April 21st. After the next cold front ended in snowshowers however, a surprise unpredicted snowstorm blew through overnight on April 27th, dropping 2 ½ inches in Chippewa Falls, but up to 7 inches down toward Fall Creek. 
So ended April, with the coldest average high on my records, 56.5°, sinking the 2000 standing record coldest April at 57.6°.
May arrived, and it finally quit snowing! 
The upward climb continued gradually but steadily. The last spring frost occurred on May 18th, which is a little late, but not unusual; nighttime lows remained consistently above 45° after May 28th, which is again nothing to complain about. Although May was steady and not ridiculously cold, it did however gain the prestigious award of being the coldest May on my records, displacing 2002 by a razor thin margin.
Second coldest to 2004, June continued the cool trend, and was also fairly damp. While it was reasonably moist around the Chippewa Valley, it was unreasonably wet across southern Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. We will all remember the major floods at Lake Delton, WI; Cedar Rapids, IA; and on down the Mississippi through Missouri.
When we mention the word “July”, it brings to mind scorching summer days, muggy nights, and thunderstorms. Unfortunately, 2008 didn’t follow very much of that stereotype. True, it was the warmest month of the year, but it only had 4 days above 90°. The warmest day of the year was July 15th, with a grand high of - - 92.5°! What we lacked in the form of heat, however, was made up for with strong thunderstorms. There were several rounds of strong storms that rolled through the Chippewa Valley during the month of July.
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They did not damage anything significant around Chippewa Falls, but in Barron, Polk, and St. Croix counties, there was large hail and strong winds. The most notable storm here, which I suspect most people didn’t even see, occurred in the late afternoon of July 20th. The storm was very small, but it was growing rapidly and had extreme upward growth. I watched it for a few minutes with some suspicion, but then did something else momentarily. When I next looked out the window, I beheld a huge hanging cloud beneath the storm.
I grabbed the first camera I could get ahold of, and started shooting. Since the cloud was obviously rotating and constantly changing, I went out into the driveway barefoot to get a
better look. I then photographically documented the cloud as it morphed into a perfect specimen funnel cloud above the neighbor’s house!
It never touched down, but it sure looked ominous as it passed harmlessly a few miles south of us and rapidly dissipated. It was exciting though, and the first confirmed funnel cloud I had ever seen.
(This photo is of the storm that followed on its heels.)...........................................................
August was quiet and continued cool, coming in second only to 2004 as the coolest August on my records.
September blasted onto the scene with a Labor Day high of 92°, the second warmest day of the year. On another odd note, the September 1st low of 71.2° was the warmest low of the year! September was normal, perhaps even slightly above normal, but not excessively warm.
It also continued to rain periodically, and unfortunately completely rained out the September 13th airshow at Eau Claire. 
(The next day’s attendance of over 60,000 people was a record, and the Blue Angels later voted the event Airshow of the Year!) September also featured miscellaneous hurricane remnants, which added their two-cents worth of clouds and bits of rain to the picture.
The first fall frost for 2008 occurred on October 2, with a killing frost on October 3. Since all of the other years on my records feature a first frost in September, 2008 holds the new record for the latest first frost. The rest of October was fairly normal and uneventful, with the first snow showers arriving on the 26th of October.
November’s high point occurred on November 4th, with 72° on both the 3rd and 4th of the month.
The temperature began to drop on November 5th, and by the 8th we had 1” of snow on the ground. The rest of November held fairly steady with relatively normal temperatures.
December 1st was clear and cold, and that night we had an interesting phenomenon in the western sky. Just after sundown, a celestial trio appeared, namely the crescent moon, Venus, and Jupiter forming a small triangle.
We were fortunate to have a clear sky to view it, for the next night we had our first snowstorm. 
That started a pattern reminiscent of December 2000, with every-other-day snowfall, mixed with below-zero lows. Chippewa Falls received around 24 inches of snow for the month, but farther east, toward Wausau and Green Bay, 30 inches or more fell, breaking December snow records, including the 36 inch Green Bay all-time record from 1888! Madison received 40 inches for the month, easily smashing their record; and out in the Dakotas, December totals of more than 30 inches were commonplace, decisively smashing still more snow records. In addition to the snow, I also recorded 10 subzero lows for the month. With an average low of 6.5°, the month easily came in second coldest to December 2000, which had 12 subzero lows, and an average low of 2.9°. At the end of December, despite the extra snowfall, there was still a precipitation deficit for the year of 2.7 inches – not bad, considering the droughts of the last few years. December was cold, and seems to have been a cold start to a very cold winter, so bundle up and stay warm!
Well, since 2008 seems to have been cold
based on this report, you will not be
surprised to learn that the year as a
whole was also outstandingly cold:
For the year, we had an average high of 54.78°, setting a new record
coldest average high over 2000’s 55.2° standing record. For the year, we had an average low of
34.9°, setting a new record coldest average low over 2003’s 36.01° standing record. And finally,
for the year 2008, we had an overall average temperature of 44.84°, setting a new record over
2000’s standing record of 46.36°.
Yes, 2008 was cold. It was the coldest year to date on my records.
2009 Prognosis
From JW Records
I’m starting to see a trend on my records, but 2009 looks hard to predict. Currently I am guessing that we will continue to see a cold winter, but February will likely be warmer than January, and the spring will be earlier than last year. I expect a fairly hot summer, possibly extreme, and a normal fall. It looks like an average year with a few more extremes than 2008. April might be wild! Buckle up Y-all!!
Year Information Table Through 2008.
JW Records
Year | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| Yr. Av Temp | (47.5) | 47.82 | 46.36 | 48.80 | 47.22 | 46.37 |
| Yr. Av HI | (56) | 55.75 | 55.2 | 58.96 | 56.48 | 56.74 |
| Yr. Av Lo | (39) | 39.88 | 37.52 | 38.65 | 37.95 | 36.01 |
| Days >50 | 230 | 225 | 223 | 234 | 193 | 212 |
| Days >80 | 84 | 65 | 67 | 83 | 87 | 93 |
| Days >90 | 12 | 15 | 7 | 27 | 32 | 27 |
| Nights <0> | (6) | 11 | 24 | 11 | 7 | 30 |
| Nights >50 | 140 | 134 | 141 | 128 | 125 | 120 |
| Nights >70 | 5 | 10 | 9 | 16 | 16 | 5 |
...............................................................
Year | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Yr. Av Temp | 46.58 | 48.82 | 49.53 | 48.16 | 44.18 |
| Yr. Av HI | 56.57 | 59.11 | 59.41 | 58.26 | 54.78 |
| Yr. Av Lo | 36.58 | 38.32 | 39.66 | 38.06 | 34.90 |
| Days >50 | 222 | 225 | 216 | 223 | 207 |
| Days >80 | 75 | 105 | 94 | 96 | 71 |
| Days >90 | 13 | 32 | 27 | 36 | 5 |
| Nights <0> | 21 | 16 | 5 | 20 | 35 |
| Nights >50 | 115 | 136 | 129 | 137 | 120 |
| Nights >70 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 3 |
2008 Records
Coldest April Average High
Coldest May Average Highs and Lows
Fewest Days above 90: 5
Most Lows Below Zero: 35
Latest First Frost October 2
Coldest Overall Year
Record Chart 2008
JW Records
Warmest High - 2006 July 31 102.7°
Coldest High - 2007 February 4 -6.2°
Warmest Low - 1999 July 4 80°
Coldest Low - 2004 January 29 -22
Warmest Year – Highs - 2006
Warmest Year – Lows - 1999
Coldest Year – Highs - 2008
Coldest Year – Lows - 2008
Warmest Overall Year - 2006
Thank you for taking the time to read this
climate report on the year 2008.
I hope you had as much fun
reading it as I did in compiling it!
--Joel Wiltrout
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