Government forecasters are predicting a warmer-than-average
winter for the much of the nation's midsection and a dry one for
the Southeast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration says the warm area covers a wide stretch,
extending from western New York and Pennsylvania down to
northern Georgia, across Michigan, southern Wisconsin and
southeastern South Dakota, down through Colorado and Nebraska
and all the way to New Mexico. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center
says other areas of the country have equal chances of being
warmer or cooler than normal. Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and
Arkansas are forecast to have a wetter than normal season, while
the southeastern and Gulf Coast state are expected to be drier.
The dry area stretches west across Texas all the way to Arizona.