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Click here to listen to Newsradio 620 WTMJ's Jay Sorgi, with the help of the Allman Brothers Band, explain why people in Wisconsin are headed south when the temperatures drop below zero and the snow totals rise.

It's been a long, cold, snowy winter with snowfalls inching closer to Milwaukee-area records, and temperatures in the last week that have hovered around the zero mark.

Michael Brophy of Midwest Airlines says that when this happens, people really make the effort to go someplace warmer.

"When you get a long term cold snap or when you get the snow piling up, people just say, 'I've had it, I've gotta get out, I have to go south,' " said Brophy.

And when it gets frigid, travel agencies also see their sales rise.

"Those are days that our phones really light up," says Brian Hurley of Fox World Travel. Both they and Midwest Airlines have found a huge amount of increased traffic with increased snowfall and dramatically decreased temperatures.

"These are days that we just love in the travel industry, because people are thinking, 'What am I doing here? I need to get away."

Brophy says lots of Midwest ticket buyers aren't taking long to plan once they see the temperature gauge.

"When there's more snow and it gets colder and it lasts longer, people tend to make stronger impulse when it comes to travel to warmer places," claims Brophy.

Where are they going?

"Florida, of course, and Phoenix, anywhere south of where we are now," says Brophy.

States Hurley, "If I had to say one and two, one would be Mexico, two would be Florida."

Had Packers Won, Phoenix Would Be Destination One

Hurley says the travel market had gone south, because the Green Bay Packers' win total was climbing.

"On Sundays, when the Packers are playing, people aren't thinking about travel."

But then, a Super Bowl run seemed to ensue, and business was about to go up for both Midwest and Fox World.

 

"We had a number of flights ready to go," states Brophy about Midwest's Super Bowl-related travel plans.

"We were contemplating whether to add a flight on Super Bowl Sunday. We were ready to take the green and gold passengers out there, but I guess we'll have to wait until next year."

Fox World Travel also had packages going.

"We did a lot of work, really, for nothing, but you have to be prepared for things like that," states Hurley.

"Things just didn't work out this year."

Still it hasn't changed the plans of many snowbirds. Instead, they're just dropping the flight to Phoenix, and hitting Florida, or anyplace else where the mercury's higher.

"When it gets cold and snowy, people want to get as far south as possible," states Brophy.

"It'll be warmer than it is here in Wisconsin."