From the Steamboat Pilot & Today (Tom Ross):
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a winter forecast Thursday that rates the chances of average, below average and above average precipitation in the Inter-Mountain West through February as a toss-up. Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Pre diction Center, said the warm water phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean known as El Niño will be a driving factor in winter weather December through February in the United States.