Upper Midwest#Climate

The National Centers for Environmental Information considers the Upper Midwest climate region to include Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.{{Cite web |title=Geographical Reference Maps {{!}} National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) |url=https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/reference-maps/us-climate-regions |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=www.ncei.noaa.gov}}

The United States Geological Survey uses two different Upper Midwest regions:

• The USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center considers it to be the six states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, which comprise the watersheds of the Upper Mississippi River and upper Great Lakes.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}
• The USGS Mineral Resources Program considers the area to contain Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.{{Cite web |title=U.S. Geological Survey's Mineral Resources Program activities in the Upper Midwest {{!}} U.S. Geological Survey |url=https://www.usgs.gov/publications/us-geological-surveys-mineral-resources-program-activities-upper-midwest |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=www.usgs.gov |language=en}}

The Association for Institutional Research in the Upper Midwest includes the states of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan in the region.{{Cite web |title=About AIRUM |url=https://www.airum.org/about-airum |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=www.airum.org}} According to the Library of Congress, the Upper Midwest includes the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.LOC (2019). Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910. Library of Congress (LOC), 2019. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/upper-midwest/.

The region has dramatic variations between summer and winter temperatures; summers are hot; and winters are very cold. For example, Sioux Falls averages 25 days each year with temperatures above {{convert|90|F|C}} and 45 days each year with temperatures below {{convert|5|F|C}}.{{cite web |url=http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=015627&units=us |title=Sioux Falls, South Dakota Travel Weather Averages |website=Weatherbase}} Mitchell, South Dakota has a record high of {{convert|116|F|C}} and a record low of {{convert|-39|F|C}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=087037&units=us|title=Mitchell, South Dakota Travel Weather Averages|website=Weatherbase}}

The growing season is shorter, cooler and drier in areas farther north and west. The region's western boundary is sometimes considered to be determined by where the climate becomes too dry to support growing non-irrigated crops other than small grains or hay grass.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

{{Main|Inland Northern American English|North-Central American English}}

The Inland North dialect, most prominently characterized by the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, is centered in the eastern part of the Upper Midwest, including Wisconsin, Michigan and the northern parts of Illinois and Ohio; it extends beyond the Midwest into Central and Western New York. North Central American English (also known as "Upper Midwestern"{{Cite book| last = Allen | first = Harold B. | title = The Linguistic Atlas of the Upper Midwest | publisher = University of Minnesota Press | year = 1973 | location = Minneapolis | isbn = 0-8166-0686-2 }}), is spoken in Minnesota, parts of Wisconsin and Iowa, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, portions of Montana and the Dakotas.{{Cite book| last1 = Labov | first1 = William | author1-link=William Labov | first2 = Sharon |last2 = Ash | first3 = Charles | last3 = Boberg | author3-link=Charles Boberg | title = The Atlas of North American English | publisher = Mouton de Gruyter | year = 2006 | location = Berlin | isbn = 3-11-016746-8 }}

File:Republican Schoolhouse, Second and Elm Streets, Ripon, Fond du Lac County, WI HABS WIS,20-RIPO,1-1.tif, was the birthplace of the Republican Party. (An old photo of the Little White Schoolhouse)]]

The Upper Midwest in the 20th-century was dominated by the Republican Party and was the heartland of the early Progressive movement, the region supporting Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose party and Robert La Follette's Progressive party. The region continues to be favorable to the Democratic Party and moderate Republicans, with Minnesota favoring each Democratic presidential candidate since 1976 and Wisconsin from 1988 to 2012 (and again in 2020). Minnesota narrowly supported native Walter Mondale in 1984 in an election where Ronald Reagan won every other state. Michigan and Illinois also often favor Democratic candidates. However, beginning with the 2010 midterm elections, Republicans experienced substantial gains in state legislative and executive offices in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.{{Cite web|url=http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_tim_storey/gop_makes_historic_state_legislative_gains_in_2010|title=GOP Makes Historic State Legislative Gains in 2010 |website=Rasmussen Reports |access-date=July 31, 2018}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/11/us/elections/state-legislature-change-in-control.html|title=In a Further Blow to Democrats, Republicans Increase Their Hold on State Governments|last=Lai|first=K.K. Rebecca|access-date=July 31, 2018|newspaper=The New York Times}}{{Cite web|first=Tim |last=Anderson|date=December 1, 2016|url=http://knowledgecenter.csg.org/kc/content/gop-continues-gain-more-legislative-seats-control-midwest-states|title=GOP continues to gain more legislative seats, control in Midwest states |website=CSG Knowledge Center|access-date=July 31, 2018}} This trend continued through 2016.{{Cite news|first=Harry|last=Enten|author-link=Harry Enten|url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/its-not-all-about-clinton-the-midwest-was-getting-redder-before-2016/|title=It's Not All About Clinton – The Midwest Was Getting Redder Before 2016|date=December 9, 2016|work=FiveThirtyEight|access-date=July 31, 2018}} From 2018, Democrats regained some control of the region. Upper Midwest states closest to the Great Lakes favor Democrats, and Democratic state trifecta governments formed in Minnesota and Michigan in 2022. Great Plains states in the region continue to favor Republicans, with GOP state trifecta governments in the Dakota's and Iowa.{{Cite web |title=State government trifectas |url=https://ballotpedia.org/State_government_trifectas |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=Ballotpedia |language=en}} In 2023, the region had three Democratic governors (in Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin) and three Republican governors (in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa).

In the 2020 presidential election, Democrat Joe Biden won the electoral votes of the Blue Wall states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Republican Donald Trump won the electoral votes of Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota.{{Cite web|last=Alberta|first=Tim|title=Three Reasons Biden Flipped the Midwest|url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/11/04/three-reasons-biden-flipped-the-midwest-434114|access-date=2021-01-13|website=Politico|language=en}}

Every American state elects two U.S. senators to a six-year term. After the November 2020 election, Minnesota and Michigan had two Democratic senators, while North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa had two Republican senators. Wisconsin is the only state in the Upper Midwest that has elected one Republican and one Democratic senator.

{{See also|Rust Belt}}

The economy of the region was largely based upon the mining of iron and copper, as well as a very large timber industry. Mechanization has sharply reduced employment in those areas, and the economy is increasingly based on tourism. Popular interest in the environment and environmentalism, added to traditional interests in hunting and fishing, has attracted a large urban audience who live within driving range.{{cite book |first=Aaron |last=Shapiro |title=The Lure of the North Woods: Cultivating Tourism in the Upper Midwest |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |date=2015}}

File:South Dakota harvest field-LCCN2008678244.tif, 1898, Corn Belt.]]

The USDA reported that corn, soybean, sunflower and sugar beet crops saw harvest gains in 2018, but were still below the five-year averages. In North Dakota, for example, 49% of corn was harvested by November 4 compared with the five-year average of 97%. This was in part due to weather conditions in October that affected the harvest.{{Cite web|last=Knutson|first=Jonathan Staff|title=Making progress on crop harvest, but Upper Midwest pace still...|access-date=8 November 2018|date=November 7, 2018|url=http://www.agweek.com/business/agriculture/4526070-making-progress-crop-harvest-upper-midwest-pace-still-trails-five-year|website=Agriculture Week}}

• Louisiana (New France)
• Northern Tier (United States)
• 100th meridian west
• Siouxland
• Northwoods
• Rust Belt
• Culture:
• Culture of Iowa
• Culture of Michigan
• Culture of Minnesota
• Culture of North Dakota
• Culture of South Dakota
• Culture of Wisconsin
• NFC North, a National Football League division encompassing three of the four teams in the region

{{Reflist}}

• [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/umhtml/umessay5.html The History of the Upper Midwest: An Overview]
• [http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/umesc_home.html USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center]
• [http://pubs.usgs.gov/info/mwinfo/ U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Upper Midwest Mineral Resources Program]

{{Midwestern United States}}{{Regions of the United States}}

Category:Regions of the United States

Category:Midwestern United States

Category:Northern United States