Gary Osoba <<email>> writes:

Zapata Update: It's not even spring yet here in the northern hemisphere. But at t 5:30 pm this evening, it was 99 degrees F. in Zapata. They have already cracked 100 degrees a couple of times. Might bode well for a new round of world record this year. Stay tuned.

From NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, hotter and drier than normal in the south, southwest.

The temperature outlook for MAM 2008 indicates greater than normal chances of above normal temperatures for most of the western and southern US., based on the combined influences of la Nina and the trend. Below normal temperatures are most probable along the pacific coast in the lower Alaskan panhandle, the pacific northwest and southern California. Elsewhere, the forecast calls for equal chances (ec) of above, near and below average temperatures.

The precipitation outlook for MAM 2008 indicates an enhanced probability of below average precipitation amounts in the southwest, the southern and central plains, the lower Mississippi valley and along the gulf coast, and much of the southeast including Florida and the Atlantic coastal states as far north as the Chesapeake bay. These precipitation anomalies are the expected response to a strong la Nina in addition to the lesser influence of precipitation trends. Elsewhere, the forecast calls for equal chances (ec) of above, near and below average precipitation.