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Modeled historical climate metrics, Wisconsin 1981-2010 (2026 release, full version)

Identification Information

Citation
Title
Modeled historical climate metrics, Wisconsin 1981-2010 (2026 release, full version)
Originator
Dr. Eric Compas, Department of Geography, Geology, and Environmental Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Dr. David Lorenz, Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Creation Date
2026-04-27
Publication Date
2026-04-27
Edition
2026 Release
Geospatial Data Presentation Form
mapDigital
Collection Title
Climate, Statewide, Coastal
Abstract
This geodatabase contains a full version of the probabilistic downscaled climate modeling data produced by the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) Climate Working Group. These data are the same as used in WICCI's 2026 climate assessment report (available at https://wicci.wisc.edu/). The data is meant for planners, decision-makers, and researchers to incorporate the latest and most detailed climate modeling data into their projects and analysis. This dataset contains a simplified version of the historical downscaled climate data produced by the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts' (WICCI) Climate Working Group. This dataset contains several temperature metrics averaged by month across the 30-year period from 1981-2010. This historical climate data is a subset of the downscaling 'de-biasing' process where the 1950-2005 time period in the climate model is matched to the 1950-2009 in the observed station record. The slight mismatch in the climate and observed time period has negligible impact because climate change operates slowly over decades. Instead it is more important that the climate record is long enough to 'average out' natural climate variability. These metrics include both temperature and precipitation metrics including average maximum temperature, average minimum temperature, and precipitation totals. These averages and totals are aggregated both annually and by season for the 30-year period. In addition, the data includes the estimated number of days per month that meet commonly-used thresholds: days where the maximum temperature exceeds 90 F, 95 F, or 100 F; days where the minimum temperature exceeds 70 F or falls below 32 F or 0 F; days where precipitation exceeds 1”, 2”, and 3”; and days where there is no precipitation. Both raster and vector contour layers are provided for each metric. The spatial resolution of the data is 0.08 x 0.0625 degrees (approximately 4x4 miles on the ground). The python code used to produce this simplified version is available at https://github.com/TheGeographer/DownscaledClimateData. A "how to" guide for viewing and analyzing these data is available at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IoZHkLF1faWOuA0lH7zjda7YxBsextPwj97GMAdYJy8/edit?usp=sharing.
Purpose
The goal is to provide historical downscaled climate modeling data in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-friendly format that allows practitioners, researchers, and businesses to access future climate models for specific purposes. This data can be used (along with other modeled climate data included in this package) to compare modeled temperatures to historic conditions or to evaluate the likelihood of extreme weather events such as heat waves.
Supplemental Information
This is an archived copy of the data held at UW-Madison.
Temporal Extent
Currentness Reference
Provided metrics represent annual and seasonal averages and totals across several 20-year windows
Time Period
Begin
2021-01-01T00:00:00
End
2040-12-31T00:00:00
Bounding Box
West
-92.950002
East
-86.750006
North
47.149998
South
42.350002
ISO Topic Category
climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere
environment
geoscientificInformation
health
planningCadastre
Place Keyword
Wisconsin
Place Keyword Thesaurus
Temporal Keyword
1981-2010
Theme Keyword
climate change
Theme Keyword Thesaurus
Resource Constraints
Use Limitation
These data are based on 22-24 Global Climate Model(s) (GCMs) as part of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) global modelling effort. While these models generally agree on the degree and timing of changing temperature and precipitation, they differ for some metrics and seasons in Wisconsin, and, as such, the average values in this simplified version hides some of the variability in the underlying models. This data should be used with this uncertainty in mind.
Resource Constraints
Use Limitation
Although this data is being distributed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the University as to the accuracy of the data and related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the University in the use of this data, or related materials.
Maintenance and Update Frequency
notPlanned
Language
eng
Credit
The aggregation and conversion to this GIS-friendly format was conducted by Dr. Eric Compas, UW-Whitewater, compase@uww.edu The original probabilistic downscaled climate data was produced by the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts' (WICCI) Climate Working Group including Dr. Steve Vavrus, sjvavrus@wisc.edu, Dr. David Lorenz, dlorenz@wisc.edu, and Dr. Dan Vimont, dvimont@wisc.edu.
Point of Contact
Contact
Dr. Eric Compas, Department of Geography, Geology, and Environmental Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Dr. David Lorenz, Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Position Name

Spatial Reference Information

Reference System Identifier
Code
4326
Code Space
EPSG
Version

Data Quality Information

Quantitative Attribute Accuracy Report
Evaluation Method
To validate the data within this dataset, multiple derived products, e.g. total number of days with temperature above 95 F, were compared between this dataset and the data produced by the WICCI Climate Working Group. Despite using different methods to aggregate the data, there are only minor differences between these two datasets.
Lineage
Statement
The original downscaled probabilistic data is available at https://registry.opendata.aws/noaa-uwpd-cmip5/ and was provided to Dr. Compas directly by the WICCI Climate Working Group. These data were processed using Python scripts (available at https://github.com/TheGeographer/DownscaledClimateData). Please see this code repository for details. In summary, the individual daily netCDF files for each twenty-year period and climate model, e.g. SSP2-4.5, are loaded into a large matrix for summarizing. From this matrix, the annual and seasonal averages and estimated number of days meeting temperature thresholds are calculated. Finally, the script exports a simplified netCDF of the results. This netCDF file was imported into ArcGIS Pro (version 3.5.2) and converted into ESRI's file geodatabase (GDB) for distribution.
Process Step
Description
Archived data at UW-Madison
Process Date
2023-01-25T00:00:00

Distribution Information

Format Name
File Geodatabase (GDB)
Format Version
1.0
Distributor
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Online Access
https://web.s3.wisc.edu/rml-gisdata/WI_Historical_1981-2010.zip
Protocol
WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http—download
Name
GeoData@Wisconsin
Function
download

Content Information

Content Type
image

Spatial Representation Information

Raster
Number of Dimensions
2
Column Count
62
Row Count
48
Cell Geometry Type
area
Corner Points
Point
-92.950002 42.350002
Point
-92.950002 47.149998
Point
-86.750006 47.149998
Point
-86.750006 42.350002
Center Point
-89.850004 44.750000

Metadata Reference Information

Hierarchy Level
dataset
Metadata File Identifier
0B594084-BBF2-455F-8E3D-2F5F35667D09
Metadata Date Stamp
2026-04-27
Metadata Standard Name
ISO 19139 Geographic Information - Metadata - Implementation Specification
Metadata Standard Version
2007
Character Set
utf8
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