ABSTRACT
Few places on earth experience Wisconsin's variety of weather. Continental Polar air masses dominate Wisconsin weather in winter. Each year Wisconsin experiences several major storms: thunderstorms with heavy rains, lightning, hail, and tornadoes; blizzards; wind storms; and freezing rain. Forecasting weather in Wisconsin and other places in the country would be greatly simplified if meteorologists only needed to know whether a high-pressure or low-pressure system was approaching and what type of air mass, or air masses, was associated with the oncoming system. Glaciers during the Wisconsin stage progressed through three periods of advance and retreat within the state's borders. Wisconsin's varied geologic history has resulted in the physical structure of the state's landforms or physiography. Prairie grass again replaced the deciduous forests in southern and southwestern sections of Wisconsin. White settlement brought drastic changes to Wisconsin's forests. Southern forests were the first cut, and the land was cleared for farming.
