Despite past weekend, winter to be dry, warm
By SHANNON CRABTREE scrabtree@leader-news.com

Although the weekend didn't inspire much confidence, forecasters are saying this winter will be warmer and drier than normal.

The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center is projecting well above average temperatures through March while at the same time saying rain should be below expected levels.

"La Nina conditions are expected to have considerable impact on U.S. temperature and precipitation in December," Forecaster David Unger said in his December outlook.

La Nina is the term used by forecasters to indicated cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific and its effect on weather.

"La Nina is associated with above normal temperatures in the desert southwest, the southern great plains (and) Texas," he said, adding, "Precipitation tends to be light over much of the southern part of the country in La Nina winters."

Heading into the first week of December, the NWS forecast is calling for highs hovering in the 70 range with lows in the 50s.

An "average" December in the Wharton County area has highs around 64 with lows in the 43 range while January is typically the coldest month of the year with highs averaging at 62 degrees and lows falling to 42 on average.

The record December high was 93 degrees on Dec. 10, 1933 while the record low was recorded at 7 degrees on Dec. 23, 1989. For January, the record high of 85 degrees was recorded on Jan. 21, 1939 and Jan. 7, 1907. The record low is 4 degrees set on Jan. 31, 1949.

Average rainfall in December is 3.23 inches while the norm in January is 3.42 inches.