MONROE - Was Sunday's snowfall a sign of things to come?
It's still too soon to call this winter a "mild" one, but it had been dry prior to the 2 inches of snow measured Sunday afternoon at The Monroe Times. A light dusting of less than half an inch of snow was also recorded Saturday.
A lack of snow for much of November and December had left highways and streets clear, a great boon to city and county departments that remove snow, but landscapers remain frustrated.
Derek Williams of Cedar Creek Landscaping said he expected the winter to be slow, but having the extra income from removing snow has always been helpful to his business.
"I have never seen it snow less than seven times in a winter," Williams said last week. "We've maybe had one good snow this year, and we didn't even call everybody because it was so soft."
Williams said he has about 100 clients he removes snow for, including private individuals and businesses. He said he tries to save his clients money by only plowing when necessary, not always going out for skiffs of snow, but the dearth of snow has been a big drain on his business.
"Sometimes I don't want to see it. Say it snows on the weekend and maybe I've got something planned, but I can't go because of Mother Nature," Williams said.
He said last year he and his crew of four to six people were out plowing about 20 separate times.
"Don't get me wrong, I like to see snow so we get extra income, but it saves a lot of businesses money when it's dry," he said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ranked November as the driest winter for south-central Wisconsin since 2009 at 1.24 inches of precipitation this year compared to an average of 2.06 inches. The driest on record was in 1976 at .09 inches. December precipitation numbers were not yet available.
According to accuweather.com, December had nine days with high temperatures above 40 degrees and lows that never dipped below 9 degrees in Monroe. Historically, the average for December in Monroe has been between 13 and 38 degrees.
For Jeff Wunschel, commissioner of the Green County Highway Department, the lack of snow has been a welcome break from last year.
"We typically spend about $150,000 to $160,000 for snow removal in December, and we only spent $39,000 this year," Wunschel said.
He said he tries to budget about $800,000 for winter snow removal, but the department had to spend about $850,000 last year during the "polar vortex."
"Thinking about the budget, we were about $150,000 over coming into November and now we are only about $50,000 over," Wunschel said of this year.
Without snow to plow, he said general maintenance has kept the highway department busy, as well as sealing, stripping and laying asphalt on state roads.
"We try to be really conservative on state roads, but since we had quite a bit of money left over from December ... we try to fix some problem areas around Monroe," Wunschel said.
City Supervisor for Streets and Sanitation Thomas Boll said the arid month has been a blessing for city snow removers as well.
"We've been able to catch up on our tree trimming," he said. "It's been a pretty nice winter for us."
Entering 2015, the snowfall from Saturday and Sunday and the frigid temperatures predicted for this week might prove to be the beginning of harsher weather conditions for Monroe and south-central Wisconsin, but weather predictions have no bearing on keeping the streets snow-free.
"How do you guess and try to predict what we're going to get?" Boll said. "I don't have a crystal ball."
It's still too soon to call this winter a "mild" one, but it had been dry prior to the 2 inches of snow measured Sunday afternoon at The Monroe Times. A light dusting of less than half an inch of snow was also recorded Saturday.
A lack of snow for much of November and December had left highways and streets clear, a great boon to city and county departments that remove snow, but landscapers remain frustrated.
Derek Williams of Cedar Creek Landscaping said he expected the winter to be slow, but having the extra income from removing snow has always been helpful to his business.
"I have never seen it snow less than seven times in a winter," Williams said last week. "We've maybe had one good snow this year, and we didn't even call everybody because it was so soft."
Williams said he has about 100 clients he removes snow for, including private individuals and businesses. He said he tries to save his clients money by only plowing when necessary, not always going out for skiffs of snow, but the dearth of snow has been a big drain on his business.
"Sometimes I don't want to see it. Say it snows on the weekend and maybe I've got something planned, but I can't go because of Mother Nature," Williams said.
He said last year he and his crew of four to six people were out plowing about 20 separate times.
"Don't get me wrong, I like to see snow so we get extra income, but it saves a lot of businesses money when it's dry," he said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ranked November as the driest winter for south-central Wisconsin since 2009 at 1.24 inches of precipitation this year compared to an average of 2.06 inches. The driest on record was in 1976 at .09 inches. December precipitation numbers were not yet available.
According to accuweather.com, December had nine days with high temperatures above 40 degrees and lows that never dipped below 9 degrees in Monroe. Historically, the average for December in Monroe has been between 13 and 38 degrees.
For Jeff Wunschel, commissioner of the Green County Highway Department, the lack of snow has been a welcome break from last year.
"We typically spend about $150,000 to $160,000 for snow removal in December, and we only spent $39,000 this year," Wunschel said.
He said he tries to budget about $800,000 for winter snow removal, but the department had to spend about $850,000 last year during the "polar vortex."
"Thinking about the budget, we were about $150,000 over coming into November and now we are only about $50,000 over," Wunschel said of this year.
Without snow to plow, he said general maintenance has kept the highway department busy, as well as sealing, stripping and laying asphalt on state roads.
"We try to be really conservative on state roads, but since we had quite a bit of money left over from December ... we try to fix some problem areas around Monroe," Wunschel said.
City Supervisor for Streets and Sanitation Thomas Boll said the arid month has been a blessing for city snow removers as well.
"We've been able to catch up on our tree trimming," he said. "It's been a pretty nice winter for us."
Entering 2015, the snowfall from Saturday and Sunday and the frigid temperatures predicted for this week might prove to be the beginning of harsher weather conditions for Monroe and south-central Wisconsin, but weather predictions have no bearing on keeping the streets snow-free.
"How do you guess and try to predict what we're going to get?" Boll said. "I don't have a crystal ball."