Posted on 10/09/2007 10:51:04 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will have warmer-than-normal temperatures this winter in most of the country, except for the northern Plains and Northwest states, government weather experts predicted on Tuesday.
As for precipitation, it will be drier than average across the Southwest and the Southeast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projected in its winter forecast.
The Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, northern Rockies and Hawaii will be wetter than normal this winter, the agency predicted.
NOAA also forecast a weak to moderate La Nina weather phenomenon, which is marked by unusually cold temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific, during the 2006-2007 winter.
"La Nina is here, with a weak to moderate event likely to persist through the winter," said Michael Halpert, head of forecast operations and acting deputy director of NOAA's's Climate Prediction Center.
In the U.S., La Nina usually brings wetter weather to the Pacific Northwest and dryer warmer weather across the South.
"The big concern this winter may be the persistence of drought across large parts of the already parched South. And while December through February is likely to be another milder-than-average winter for much of the country, people should still expect some bouts of winter weather," Halpert added.
NOAA also predicted the following:
* above-average temperatures in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic in response to the long-term warming trend.
* milder-than-average weather in northern Alaska and above-average temperature and precipitation in Hawaii
* across the country, according to NOAA's heating degree day forecast, December through February will be 2.8 percent warmer than the 30-year norm, but still 1.3 percent cooler than last winter.
Last Winter was suppose to warm also, but then it was due to El Nino. Of course, here in Ohio we had our 2nd coldest February ever! No mention was ever made of it. I had to dig up this nugget of information out of the NOAA climatology website. They would have been screaming from the rooftops if it had been the 2nd warmest Feburary ever.
Who says, The Nobel Prize boo boo, Gore?
Good...my natural gas bills will drop if it’s 40 degrees outside instead of 30. Woohoo!
Winter will be about one degree above normal in the east and two degrees above normal in the west
One to two degrees warmer. That's not very different. I think I wil still have to winterize the swamp cooler.
Farmer’s Almanac predicting a cold, snowy winter here in Maine... and it’s about time!
The unusually cold winter here in the San Joaquin Valley killed half of my avacado trees last year, so we’re destined for 10 years of mild winters. You heard it here first! :)
“except for the northern Plains and Northwest states”
Dang, dang, dang, double dang, triple dang, etc.
Wooley’s I’ve seen in Poconos of Pa. are black on tips and a lot of brown in -between .Bad in beginning and end of winter and mild in the middle .
Does anyone know if NOAA has weather spotters who check on these and/or have they developed a computer model that includes them?
Whether corn husks are open or closed?
The stripes on wooly bear caterpillars?
The size and location of muskrat piles?
The little donkey on a card with a piece of baling twine for a tail?
The weather stone?
There are about 2” snow on the ground and it has been at freezing or below for several days. It appears to be entirely normal. The warmest winter in the past 30 years it hardly got below 5 below all winter. Last March was something like 30 below or colder all month. Is that a warm winter if it stays warmer than 5 below?
Everyone I’ve seen on the roads and out walking around are dark brown to pitch black. No light colored ones. None. I’ve never seen that before.
I think we’re going to have a nice long fall, then it’s going to drop off the table.
Gee a big hurricane hit New Orleans, let’s predict tons of Hurricanes .... that worked out well. The truth is the color of a woolyworm will tell you more than these bozo’s.
Brought to you by the same folks who predicted a warmer/dryer spring and summer in Texas. (cooler/much wetter)
I’ve seen pure black Woolybears before. About three years ago. I want to say it was really warm that winter.
I’m in Georgia and the A/C is going full blast.
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