NOAA: Warm winter in West, but East? Who knowsOctober 18th, 2012 in Earth / Earth Sciences
Federal meteorologists are forecasting a milder and drier winter for much of the western United States, but say they are stumped about what will happen in the East.
Officials forecast a drier than normal winter for a region from the Pacific Northwest to Nevada, as well as Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and northern Missouri. Much of the southeast should be wetter than normal.
The climate prediction center's Mike Halpert (HAL'-purt) says this forecast has meteorologists somewhat stumped, especially the East, because an El Nino weather oscillation didn't form as predicted. It began brewing months ago and suddenly stopped. Meteorologists hadn't seen that happen before.
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"NOAA: Warm winter in West, but East? Who knows." October 18th, 2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-10-noaa-winter-west-east.html