Photo gallery Three days and nearly 70 degrees
The descent of a “polar vortex” into Wisconsin brought brutally low temperatures and high wind chills to campus on Jan. 30 and 31, but those temperatures rose 68 degrees by Feb. 3 as the weather pattern lifted. Madison’s low on Thursday was minus 26 Fahrenheit, rising to a high on Sunday of 42 Fahrenheit. While the warming air brought relief to chilled students, it also resulted in flooded streets and cracked water pipes in some campus buildings.
The temperature was minus 24 degrees Fahrenheit at dawn on Jan. 31, as the sun began to rise over campus. The view is from the roof of the Engineering Research Building. Photo by: Jeff Miller
Melting snow creates a pond at the Engineering Mall on Feb. 3, as the temperature rose to 42 degrees. The sudden rise in temperature caused widespread fog in Madison. Photo by: Jeff Miller