Milwaukee

Climate

Weather patterns in Milwaukee can fluctuate daily, often with little consistency in temperature or conditions. In general six months of the year are cold, overcast, and wet. Milwaukee is the second coldest major city in the country; winter is very long and cold! Spring is often very wet and sometimes cold and miserable. It is not unheard of to get snowfall in early April. Winter visitor may quickly get an idea why there are so many bars, bowling alleys and festivals in Milwaukee. The best time to visit is by far in the summer or the early fall during Indian Summer when the whole place comes to life and everybody is outside.

History and culture

Milwaukee's human history begins with American Indian people who lived near the confluence of Milwaukee's three rivers into Lake Michigan for centuries. Tribes who inhabited the area that is now Milwaukee included Menominee, Fox, Mascouten, Sauk, and Potawatomi. With the arrival of Europeans and an increasing population, large and often violent divides become more prominent. These settlers built three dueling settlements Juneautown, Kilbourntown, and Walker's Point around what is now Downtown. The two former communities were extremely competitive and created two non-aligning street grids. This is why 1st Street is west of the Milwaukee River and the reason that many of the city's bridges cross the river diagonally connecting the two grids.

Milwaukee has historically been a major immigrant city. During the early 20th Century, German and Polish immigrants tended to dominate, and the city still strongly identifies with its German and, to a slightly lesser extent, Polish heritage. For part of the early 20th century German was even the main language of the city, and German names are still very common.

As waves of immigrants arrived in Milwaukee they tended and tend to form communities in specific areas. The different areas of the city are still identified with the ethnic groups that originally populated them. The Near North and Northwest sides were originally German, but are now mainly African American with Hmong enclaves. The Near South side was originally Polish but is now mainly Hispanic. Juneautown was originally mainly populated by English immigrants as well as people from the eastern United States.

The city experienced 'white flight' during the 1960's and 70's, creating a large socio-economic divide between the inner city and suburbs. Today the city remains highly segregated with low rates of social and economic mobility within the inner city.

Milwaukee is home to some instantly recognized corporations such as Miller Brewing and Harley Davidson. Harley holds an enormous celebration on every fifth anniversary attracting riders and celebrity riders such as Jay Leno by the millions to Milwaukee each time. The 110th anniversary will be held in 2013.

Milwaukee was once the home to four of the world's largest breweries Schlitz, Blatz, Pabst, and Miller, making it the number one beer producing city in the world for many years. Despite the decline in its position as the world's leading beer producer through the loss of three of those breweries, its one remaining major brewery, Miller Brewing Company is a key employer. Miller employs over 2,200 people on Milwaukee's west side. All this beer brewing has earned the city the nickname "Brew City" and its identification with and fondness for beer remains strong as ever.

Milwaukee has advertised itself as the "City of Festivals," especially emphasizing an annual summer party along the lakefront called Summerfest (http://www.summerfest.com/). Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as "the largest music festival in the world", Summerfest attracts about a million visitors a year to its twelve stages. Smaller ethnic festivals throughout the summer celebrate many of Milwaukee's ethnic groups.

Film

Milwaukee is probably best known from TV as the settings of the 1970's sitcoms "Laverne and Shirley" and "Happy Days". It has also served as the backdrop for numerous Hollywood films. The recent films Bridesmaids, Transformers 3, Mr. 3000 and Milwaukee, Minnesota are both set in the area. Milwaukee, Minnesota gives a good winter portrait of the city and was largely filmed in the Bay View neighborhood.

Climate	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Daily highs °F	27	31	40	54	65	76	80	79	71	60	45	32
Nightly lows °F	13	17	26	36	45	56	62	61	53	42	30	19
Precipitation in	1.7	1.4	2.6	3.4	2.8	3.4	3.6	3.5	2.9	2.4	2.4	2.1
Check Milwaukee's 7 day forecast at NOAA