MONROE - Although predictions for this year's winter weather are mixed, Monroe residents are reveling in the warmer temperatures of recent weeks.

Danielle Zimmerman said the milder weather had already benefited her crops.

"We were late in putting in our winter wheat this fall," Zimmerman said. "We only got it in two weeks ago but it's sprouting now."

Zimmerman said she had heard predictions for heavy snow but added that it could just as likely be mild.

"We could get one or two days of snowfall to get it out of its system, and I'll be fine if it doesn't snow again," Zimmerman said.

Marlene Phillips was less optimistic, although she was glad to be able to walk outside in the warmer weather.

"Normally we'd have had a frost by now, but we haven't," Phillips said.

"I like the weather like this, but this could just mean there will still be colder weather later," she said.

However, to Monroe newcomer Derek Glover, the warmer winter weather is too familiar.

"This is normal for me," said Glover, who moved to Monroe from Searcy, Arkansas, two weeks ago. "This is not what people told me to expect."

Glover said he would prefer to experience a genuine Wisconsin winter.

"I would like to see what Wisconsin really is like," Glover said. "We're ready for it."