Temperatures in February should be above normal for the U.S. Mid-Atlantic states, a large part of the Northeast and most of the Great Lakes region, the National Weather Service predicted on Thursday.
However, the agency said there are equal chances that February temperatures will be above or below normal for the New England region, which is the largest heating oil market in the United States.
The Southwest, including western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, the eastern half of California and the southern half of Nevada, will have above-normal temperatures in February.
And temperatures will be below normal for most of Idaho, the eastern halves of Washington and Oregon and the western halves of Montana and Wyoming during next month.
For the February-April period, the agency called for warmer-than-normal temperatures in the mid-Atlantic, Southwest and South Central U.S. from Texas to California.
Government forecasters also called for drier-than-normal weather in the extreme Southeast, including most of Georgia and all of Florida, the Southwest and the Central Plains, including Kansas and Nebraska.
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Forecasters said the drier conditions for the three-month period are “a consistent response to weak La Nina conditions.”
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La Nina is an unusual cooling of ocean temperatures, which can trigger widespread changes in weather such as drier winters in the Southwest.
La Nina, which means “infant girl” in Spanish, is generally the opposite of an El Nino weather pattern.
NOAA has said it will issue an update on La Nina on Feb. 9.














