Bittersweet is a word that describes the 2023 growing season. A lot of good things happened but they often were not as we would have wished them. In far-northern Wisconsin parts of the Lake Superior shore had record amounts of snow; almost 183 inches fell in Bayfield. With a drought that has stretched through multiple growing seasons, the moisture was welcome. But the vast amount of snow was not. As spring temperatures warmed much of the snow melted in short order, causing flooding and wet field conditions just as planting was about to commence. And then as summer began abnormal dryness and then drought crept back into the area.
In the north, as in much of the rest of Wisconsin, bountiful harvests depended on soil type and localized rain amounts. Those with soil that held moisture did better, as did those who were lucky enough to have cloudbursts of rain that were not too violent or overly generous. In the end some were pleasantly surprised with abundant harvests in spite of the early problems with wet fields and the later-season return of drought.
As autumn approached rain came as some were getting in the last hay and others were harvesting grain. By November the precipitation stopped. Many received barely a trace of rain or snow from the start of November through the first week in December. Warmer-than-normal temperatures sapped moisture that could not be held by dead or dormant plants. A drought map of Wisconsin in late November showed abnormal dryness and drought conditions in most of northern Wisconsin. The drought area also ran in a diagonal belt from the tip of the Door Peninsula in the northeast to the southwest corner of the state at the bank of the Mississippi River.
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