A. For better or worse, the past winter doesn't offer many clues to the coming spring and summer, said UW-Madison atmospheric and oceanic sciences professor Jonathan Martin.

"Tornadoes are such a small-scale phenomenon," dependent on very local conditions, he said. "That early January thing was really interesting and exciting. But it will not communicate any physical information to our coming tornado season in June, July and August. There's no connection at all."

With regard to other weather patterns, the jury's still out on how much one season affects the next, but we may see small links. For example, December's heavy snowfall created an insulating blanket that kept ground temperatures higher than usual. Early spring rains have soaked into the unfrozen ground rather than running off.

"Now when the sun comes out, it will take a lot more energy to get that water out of the ground by evaporation," Martin said. "That will shave a few degrees off of our high temperatures on sunny days in the coming weeks."

Beyond that short-term effect, though, "We don't have anything to hang our hat on for what might happen this summer. It's a wait-and-see situation."

Produced in cooperation with University Communications.

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