Scientists: Winter Warmest on Record

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Scientists: Winter Warmest on Record

By BRIGITTE GREENBERG

.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (March 12) - This winter has been the warmest on record since the government began keeping weather statistics 105 years ago, according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Analyzing data from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., researchers said that seasonal temperatures from December to February averaged 38.4 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.6 degrees warmer than the previous record, which was set just last year.

The scientists attributed the warm temperatures to La Nina, a weather phenomenon related to cooler than normal temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. The researchers couldn't say Saturday whether the warm winter had any link to a ``greenhouse effect'' caused by pollution into the atmosphere.

In fact, the last three winters have been the warmest on record in the United States - a pattern of warm winters established in 1980, said the scientists. Since then, 67 percent of the winter seasons have been warmer than the long-term average.

Many states from the northern Plains to New England set records for the latest date of their first seasonal snowfall, latest date without a temperature below freezing, longest snow-free period, or longest period between subzero temperatures.

However, NOAA spokesman Greg Hernandez said the specific state-by-state temperature data would not be available until Monday. Only the general trends for the country were immediately available, he said.

It has been an overall warm winter, despite a brief and sudden cold spell in the Northeast that in part caused severe shortages of heating oil and soaring prices in late January and early February in that region of the country.

Researchers said that while eastern states experienced heavy snowfall in the last two weeks of January, the cold air that came with it was short-lived. Hundreds of daily maximum temperature records were broken across the country in February. Many spots from the Northern Plains to New York set or tied their all-time maximum temperature records for the month.

Every state in the continental U.S. was warmer than its long-term average, with 21 states from California to the Midwest ranking well above normal. Oklahoma experienced its warmest winter on record, and Kansas, Nebraska, and Montana experienced their second warmest.

This winter also has been a dry one, the 16th driest on record. Louisiana reported its driest winter on record, and Alabama and Mississippi their third driest. New Mexico and Arizona also experienced much below normal rainfall for the season. The only regions experiencing a wet season were the northern and central Rockies and a zone from the central Plains eastward to the Ohio Valley.

Worldwide, temperatures were the sixth warmest on record, following the two warmest winter seasons set in the past two years, the NOAA analysis said.

Globally, precipitation was above average through central and northern Europe, most of South America, southern Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Australia. Heavy downpours resulted in catastrophic flooding in Mozambique and other countries in southeastern Africa.

AP-NY-03-11-00 1632EST

News story from AOL. Can be found at: www.aol.com Specific link to follow. Jen B

-- Jen Bunker (jen@bunkergroup.com), March 12, 2000


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