OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Climate experts say the drought affecting
more than half of the nation will persist in the Great Plains
and West through the spring and spread over more of California,
Texas and Florida. Experts from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administrationís Climate Prediction Center and the
National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln released their latest predictions Thursday.
Currently, 56 percent of the continental U.S. is covered by a
drought in one of the three worst stages. Thatís an improvement
from last summer, when the drought covered two-thirds of the
nation. But the February-through-May drought forecast predicts
conditions will worsen this spring. And NOAA climatologist Dan
Collins says below-average precipitation is expected this spring
in most Western states and the southeastern United