United States · 1991–2020

Best time to visit
Madison.

August leads for comfortable weather in Madison: typically 27.1°C by day, 14.5°C at night, with 104 mm of rain. Based on measured 1991–2020 NOAA station history.

Best comfortAugust

Typical high27.1°C

Typical low14.5°C

Rain in August104 mm

Comfort

August

August · September · June

75climate match

Beach

July

July · August · June

62climate match

Outdoors

September

September · May · October

73climate match

The weakest month is January, scoring 5 against August’s 75 — days reach only -2.2°C, 26° below the 24°C the score treats as ideal.

Month by month

The whole year,
without the guesswork.

The bars show the comfort score. Day and night temperatures come from daily observed highs and lows; rain is the historical monthly estimate.

Jan

5-2.2° / -12.3°

Feb

5-0.1° / -10.8°

Mar

56.8° / -4.8°

Apr

2714.2° / 1.2°

May

5920.8° / 7.8°

Jun

6925.9° / 13.2°

Jul

6928° / 15.6°

Aug

7527.1° / 14.5°

Sep

7523.4° / 9.6°

Oct

4316.3° / 3.4°

Nov

97.9° / -2.6°

Dec

50.8° / -8.5°

Monthly climate evidence for Madison — daylight is calculated from latitude, everything else is measured
Month	Day	Night	Rain	Wet days	Daylight	Comfort	Coverage
January	-2.2°C	-12.3°C	40 mm	6.6	9 h 19	5	Strong coverage
February	-0.1°C	-10.8°C	45 mm	6	10 h 27	5	Strong coverage
March	6.8°C	-4.8°C	57 mm	7	11 h 47	5	Strong coverage
April	14.2°C	1.2°C	106 mm	9.5	13 h 20	27	Strong coverage
May	20.8°C	7.8°C	116 mm	10.5	14 h 38	59	Strong coverage
June	25.9°C	13.2°C	146 mm	10	15 h 21	69	Strong coverage
July	28°C	15.6°C	119 mm	8.1	15 h 04	69	Strong coverage
August	27.1°C	14.5°C	104 mm	7.8	13 h 56	75	Strong coverage
September	23.4°C	9.6°C	98 mm	7.5	12 h 26	75	Strong coverage
October	16.3°C	3.4°C	78 mm	8	10 h 57	43	Strong coverage
November	7.9°C	-2.6°C	61 mm	6.4	9 h 39	9	Strong coverage
December	0.8°C	-8.5°C	47 mm	6.6	9 h 01	5	Strong coverage

What has changed

Madison runs +0.4°C
on the 1961–1990 baseline.

Each bar compares the 2011–2025 daytime average for that month against the same month in 1961–1990, measured at the same station. Months where the older record is too thin to compare are left blank.

Jan

+0.9

Feb

+0.2

Mar

+1.0

Apr

-0.4

May

-0.1

Jun

0.0

Jul

-0.9

Aug

-0.5

Sep

+0.9

Oct

+0.3

Nov

+0.6

Dec

+2.2

August daytime highs, 2011–2025. Last recorded: 26.3°C.

Records at UW ARBORETUM - MADISON, 1971–2026
Month	Record high	Record low	Wettest day	Wettest / driest month	Years
January	15.0°C31 Jan 2025	-36.1°C11 Jan 1979	33 mm27 Jan 1974	77 mm2017 · driest 3 mm in 2025	54
February	22.8°C28 Feb 2024	-38.9°C3 Feb 1996	41 mm1 Feb 1986	100 mm2023 · driest 0 mm in 1995	54
March	28.3°C22 Mar 2012	-24.4°C4 Mar 2002	72 mm31 Mar 1998	153 mm2009 · driest 4 mm in 1996	55
April	35.0°C23 Apr 1980	-20.6°C7 Apr 1982	71 mm23 Apr 1999	206 mm1973 · driest 26 mm in 1996	55
May	35.0°C28 May 2018	-5.6°C7 May 1989	81 mm23 May 2004	267 mm2004 · driest 16 mm in 1992	54
June	40.0°C21 Jun 1988	-1.7°C9 Jun 1977	124 mm16 Jun 2018	312 mm2024 · driest 13 mm in 2012	55
July	39.4°C5 Jul 2012	2.2°C5 Jul 1972	113 mm18 Jul 1977	267 mm2017 · driest 1 mm in 2026	55
August	42.2°C2 Aug 1988	0.0°C16 Aug 1979	153 mm21 Aug 2018	343 mm2007 · driest 13 mm in 2020	54
September	37.2°C9 Sep 1978	-6.7°C23 Sep 1974	89 mm24 Sep 1994	220 mm2019 · driest 2 mm in 1979	53
October	33.9°C2 Oct 1976	-13.9°C31 Oct 1988	81 mm2 Oct 2019	159 mm1984 · driest 18 mm in 2000	55
November	25.0°C9 Nov 1999	-25.6°C29 Nov 1976	77 mm4 Nov 2003	169 mm2003 · driest 4 mm in 1976	55
December	20.6°C16 Dec 2021	-33.3°C25 Dec 1983	69 mm14 Dec 1984	171 mm1984 · driest 9 mm in 1975	55

Typical days per month at UW ARBORETUM - MADISON, 1991–2020
Month	Days 25°C+	Days 30°C+	Frost nights	Heavy rain (10 mm+)	Snow days
January	0	0	29	1	5
February	0	0	27	1	5
March	<1	0	25	2	3
April	2	<1	13	4	<1
May	8	2	2	4	0
June	19	6	0	4	0
July	25	9	0	3	0
August	24	7	0	3	0
September	13	3	<1	3	0
October	3	<1	9	3	<1
November	0	0	21	2	<1
December	0	0	27	1	4

The best month has moved. On the 1961–1990 numbers the strongest month here was June (scoring 77); on 2011–2025 it is September (83). Both are scored the same way, from the same station — only the climate underneath changed.

How often, not how much — every day in UW ARBORETUM - MADISON’s record sorted by what it was actually like, rather than averaged
Month	Warm & dry days	Wet days	Washouts	Week with 3+ wet days	Daytime mean has ranged
January	0%	20%	4%	17%	-6.7–0.8°C
February	<1%	20%	4%	19%	-4.6–3.9°C
March	3%	24%	7%	27%	3.5–9.9°C
April	15%	32%	12%	41%	11.4–16.9°C
May	42%	32%	12%	39%	18.2–23.8°C
June	65%	31%	12%	39%	24.5–28.2°C
July	74%	26%	11%	26%	26.5–30.1°C
August	72%	27%	11%	30%	25.4–29.3°C
September	59%	25%	9%	30%	21.7–25.6°C
October	23%	25%	8%	30%	13.9–19.2°C
November	4%	23%	7%	25%	4.0–11.2°C
December	<1%	22%	5%	19%	-3.5–4.2°C

A warm and dry day reaches 20°C with under 1 mm of rain; a wet day gets 1 mm or more; a washout gets 10 mm or more. The week column is the share of seven-day stretches in that month, across the station’s whole daily record, that contained three or more wet days — the odds a week-long trip is rained on repeatedly, counted rather than modelled. The last column is the 10th to 90th percentile of that month’s daytime average across individual years: a narrow band means the average is what you will get, a wide one means the average is a midpoint between years that felt quite different.

1972Each stripe is one year’s mean temperature against the 50-year average. Warmest: 2024. Coolest: 1979.2025

The evidence behind this page

Nearby, measured,
and named.

Place identity: GeoNames 5261457
NOAA station: USC00470273 · UW ARBORETUM - MADISON
Station distance: 4.2 km from the place centre
Climate period: 1991–2020
Minimum month coverage: 29 usable years
Daylight: Calculated from latitude 43.07°, mid-month, sunrise to sunset including refraction. Not a station measurement.
Important limit: Historical climate is not a forecast. Nearby stations can miss mountains, coasts, and local microclimates.

These places read the same station, so their numbers are identical — distance from UW ARBORETUM - MADISON is what differs

Fitchburg→Oregon→McFarland→Monona→Belleville→Basco→

Or put two places side by side: Madison vs Fitchburg

Best time to visitMadison.