<p>We do have central heating out here on the frozen plains…and hot toddys :)</p>
<p>I live about an hour and a half away from Madison so I’m a bit biased. Long story short you’ll get used to it. Good luck at Madison though, it’s a great school!</p>
<p>I enjoyed ice skating on the outdoor rinks and then getting a nice hot drink with a nice warm Wisconsin girl. Good times.</p>
<p>Cold, sunny days are much more pleasant psychologically than damp, cloudy ones. Much more cheerful. People also adapt to temperatures, especially the young whose bodies don’t have any arthritic changes. Weather is relative- Madison is definitely mild compared to the cold and snow of the UP of Michigan (there are reasons we let Michigan keep it)- yet college students choose it.</p>
<p>The bottom line for the Pittsburgh HS student (the OP) is that Madison winters may have more sunny days and be easier to handle. Don’t let winter scare you away from a great experience.</p>
<p>I’m from New York and when I first visited UW-Madison it was the middle of their first blizzard of the year. After my visit, I chose to come here out of 9 other schools. Yes, it’s cold, but not unbearable. I’ve been living here for 3 months already and it’s unbelievable how quickly you get used to it. My family just came up this weekend and thought it was freezing but I didn’t even need a jacket. You’ll get accustomed to it, and the weather is the ONLY negative to this school.</p>
<p>My son flew back home to Connecticut this weekend,we went to our HS football game, I needed 3 jackets and gloves he had a light jacket and a big smile. We just bought him heavy duty boots a hunting hat and tons of underwear!!!</p>
<p>btw- we didn’t get tons of snow recently, like so much of the northeast. Not in earthquake range, either. Not many tornados. No hurricanes. So many worse conditions elsewhere. We do have central heat (and all academic buldings have air conditioning, unlike the Pacific Northwest the summer of 100+ degree days my son did an REU there).</p>
<p>Well, to us in California, you’re all talking about whether you’d rather get hit by a train or by a truck. There’s nothing you can say that can rationalize it for us.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t trade being a Badger for anything, but winters are long and daylight is short. There were definitely times during my years on campus, especially in February, when I longed to live farther south. </p>
<p>The good news is that navigating winter as a college student is relatively easy (no shoveling, no dress code, no dog to walk, cross country ski to class if there’s enough snow); also, a degree from Madison opens doors all over, including in warmer climes. I’ve been in Texas for most of my adult life and it’s my UW-Madison degree that made my career here possible.</p>
<p>I don’t know, you people who are fixated on the weather need to get real. Liberal arts majors have been rapidly automated out of economic relevance here in the real economy; the cost of an undergraduate degree is up by 430% since 1978 and the average student debt at graduation is $25,000; Universities across the nation are selling you yesterday’s education solutions in an economy that is rapidly flattening globally, and you people are worried about…the weather? The weather? Seriously, the weather? And you wonder why Uncle Sam has lost his economic mo-jo?</p>
<p>Madison celebrates the weather! It’s on their Facebook page it is snowing today.</p>
<p>As a WI res. my whole life, I’m completely used to the winters. I’m from wayy up nort’ though, currently in northern MN…To an outsider, our winters are BRUTAL. Not uncommon to be -20 for bouts of time, the snow comes in October and doesn’t leave till April or May. So cold, your snot freezes in your nose, toes stay numb for hours, the whole gamut. From 19 years of WI winters, my ears have been frostbitten so much that they don’t don’t have feeling anymore, so they don’t get cold in the winter, which is nice. I don’t know how PA winters are.</p>
<p>The only fun in the winters is going on weather.com and realizing that most places in the Arctic Circle are warmer than where you’re at. Man, I love this state…</p>
<p>Today looks like one of those classic sunny but cool days. 31 and clear at lunch time. For Nov to date the average high was about 53 degrees. Not awful at all.</p>
<p>[Soil</a> Science Web Cam](<a href=“http://www.soils.wisc.edu/uwex_agwx/weather/webcam]Soil”>http://www.soils.wisc.edu/uwex_agwx/weather/webcam)</p>
<p>It’s not the temperature it’s the wind, and it has been very windy for several days. I feel like I’m in a wind tunnel at my morning bus stop, and the stop at Linden and Charter in the afternoon is also pretty bad especially since they have taken away the bus shelter on Charter.</p>
<p>Guys, are we trying to scare away these kids who know only California Raisins? (Remember the commercial years ago…? If don’t remember, here is a refresher course: [California</a> Raisins Commercial (1986) - YouTube](<a href=“California Raisins Commercial (1986) - YouTube”>California Raisins Commercial (1986) - YouTube)) </p>
<p>Well, again, it is darn cold today. Don’t think anyone showed up for a campus visit…That is a good thing for UW Publicity Dept. Cheers to that!</p>
<p>i live in wisconsin and they can vary from year to year. sometimes it can start snowing in october and towards the middle of the winter around january it definitely gets below zero. but its not really that bad as long as you have warm boots or moccasins, a lot of sweaters, a really warm fleece jacket, warm hat, gloves, scarf etc. and if it gets really bad you can wear leggings under jeans to keep your legs warm. the winters here are really really pretty with all the snow :)</p>
<p>And the weather is above normal by 10 or more degrees today… With the huge applicant pool now there is no problem with letting those who let weather get in the way of a great college experience go. Could be a whole lot worse- colleges in the upper peninsula of Michigan, for instance.</p>