SHOREWOOD, Wis. — While municipalities across Wisconsin are still working to clear piles of leaves for the fall, they are also looking ahead to winter.

Leeann Butschlick is the public works director for Shorewood, Wis. Her team started leaf collection in October, and will continue through December. Then the leaves will be composted.

“One of the busiest times of the year. This season is pretty intense here. Normally we don’t get a lot of time to collect ourselves before we have moved into winter operations,” said Butschlick.

In fact, Butschlick said they have already been preparing for winter for months. However, there are a few more things to do before that first snowfall.

“We are calibrating salters and just getting all of the equipment plows, snow blowers, sidewalk machines, everything else that we need to do to perform winter operations, getting that ready because I think 70 degree days are over and snow is right around the corner,” said Butschlick.

Butschlick explained that even though she is not looking forward to it, she expects the 2022-2023 winter to be more intense than last year.

“Farmer’s Almanac is telling us to expect a colder and heavier snowfall than we have seen in recent years, so we will see. They have a pretty good track record,” said Butschlick.

But for now, she said the focus is still on fall.