From USA Today
Snow boots or sandals? What’s up for winter
Whether you’ll experience a dry, mild winter or a wet, cold one will be all about the seesaw dance of warmer and cooler seawater in the tropical Pacific Ocean that produces the climate effects known as El Niño and La Niña, government forecasters said Thursday.This year a dry, mild winter is likely across most of the southern U.S., thanks to a developing La Niña, but the northern tier of the nation could get walloped by a colder and wetter winter, the forecasters said.Another winter forecast, released this week by the private firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research, said colder than normal temperatures are expected for much of the eastern U.S. and warmer than normal temperatures are likely in the West.