This presentation will introduce the crop managers and others in the audience to the Wisconsin State Climatology Office (SCO) and describe the role that the office plays in monitoring the climate of the Badger State for more than a century. The talk will show graphical examples of climate variables relevant to the conference theme, excerpted from the SCO web site. Long records of such climate variables as temperature, precipitation and drought will also be shown to illustrate the history of recent climate change. A weather outlook for this coming spring across the Upper Midwest will be provided.