Annual 2025 Climate Summary | Wisconsin State Climatology Office

From Arctic winter blasts to unusual fall warmth, and from droughty stretches to heavy rains, 2025 delivered both temperature whiplash and precipitation ping-pong across the state.

For a more detailed look at standout events of the year, check out our list of Wisconsin’s top 10 weather and climate events of 2025. For more information on each month and season, visit our Climate Summaries page.

Temperature Whiplash

Temperatures in Wisconsin swung sharply throughout the year, with a cold start giving way to repeated stretches of unusual warmth.

January and February delivered multiple blasts of cold, but were followed by a very warm March. The especially warm fall season finished as the seventh warmest on record. December closed out the year on a colder note — 3.8 degrees colder than normal, making it the state’s coldest month (relative to normal) since April 2022 (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Monthly statewide average temperature anomalies in degrees Fahrenheit for Wisconsin between January and December 2025 compared to the 1991 to 2020 average. Temperature anomalies are from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

The coldest temperature of the year was 32 below zero in Butternut (Ashland County) on January 20, while the warmest reading was 98 degrees at the Kenosha Airport (Kenosha County) on June 23. Together, these extremes produced an annual statewide temperature range of 130 degrees.

Historically, annual ranges often exceeded the 130-degree mark. However, recent decades have featured a narrowing of this range, reflecting fewer occurrences of extreme cold (minus 30 degrees or colder) and extreme heat (100 degrees or warmer) (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Annual temperature range in degrees Fahrenheit between extreme maximum and minimum temperatures in Wisconsin from 1885 to 2025, showcasing an overall decrease in the temperature range.

Despite the swings, the warm months outpaced cool ones overall, with a statewide average temperature of 44.6 degrees for the year. This is 0.8 degrees warmer than normal, ranking as Wisconsin’s nineteenth warmest year since records began in 1895 (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Annual average temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. Average temperatures ranged from 40 to 45 degrees from northern to central Wisconsin to 45 to 50 degrees from central to southern Wisconsin.

Figure 3 (continued). Annual average temperature departure from normal. Most of the state ended within one degree of normal, with patches of one to three degrees warmer than normal.

Precipitation Ping-Pong: Round 3

For the third straight year, precipitation in Wisconsin followed a “ping-pong” pattern, with shifts between very dry and very wet months.

The year opened with the third driest January on record, followed by the sixth wettest March. Conditions then flipped to a very dry May, but soon gave way to a wet early summer. By fall, dryness settled in, making it the eighth driest fall on record statewide (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Monthly statewide average precipitation anomalies in inches for Wisconsin between January to December 2025 compared to the 1991 to 2020 average. Precipitation anomalies are from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

An extraordinary single-day rainfall event punctuated these sharp contrasts. Between August 9 and 10, 14.55 inches of rain fell on Milwaukee’s north side, setting a new Wisconsin 24-hour rainfall record.

Annual precipitation totals varied widely across the state. Waukesha County recorded 36.28 inches for the year, while Douglas County finished with 23.01 inches. This underscores the strong regional contrasts that accompanied the monthly swings.

Despite the volatility, Wisconsin averaged 30.61 inches of precipitation in 2025, about 3.44 inches below normal (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Annual accumulated total precipitation in inches, where the majority of Wisconsin received 30 to 40 inches. Portions of southern, east-central to northeastern, and north-central to northwestern Wisconsin received 25 to 30 inches of precipitation. The western half of Douglas County received only 20 to 25 inches of precipitation.

Figure 5 (continued). Annual precipitation departure from average, where most of Wisconsin received below-normal precipitation. Parts of southern to northeastern and northwestern Wisconsin averaged three to twelve inches below normal. However, a small area of southeastern Wisconsin and portions of west-central to northeastern Wisconsin saw slightly above-normal precipitation.

Figure 5 (continued). Annual precipitation percent of normal, showing less than 100 percent of normal precipitation for most of the state. Slivers of southern and northwestern Wisconsin saw less than 75 percent of normal precipitation, while a small area of southeastern Wisconsin and portions of west-central to northeastern Wisconsin saw 100 to 125 percent of normal precipitation.

This report is a product of the Wisconsin State Climatology Office. For questions and comments, please contact us by email (stclim@aos.wisc.edu) or phone (608-263-2374).