The winter of '05-'06 has been much warmer than average, and has brought drought to the already dry Southwest and excessive rain to the wet Northwest. This past December to February was the "fifth warmest":http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2591.htm such period on record, according to the NOAA "National Climatic Data Center":http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html.

Although overall winter precipitation across the country has been average, more has fallen in places that are already soggy, and less has come to relieve places that are parched. In Arizona, for example, this has been the driest winter on record; in New Mexico and Oklahoma, it's the second driest. Snow followed the same pattern as rain: the Northwest got 150% of its average snowfall, while the Southwest got only half of its average. Temperatures were at or above average in 41 states, and below average in none. This was good news in terms of energy use: NOAA estimates that Americans used 11% less energy than they would have in an average winter. Meanwhile, a satellite weather service is "predicting":http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/35605/story.htm that the 2006 hurricane season could be just as intense as that of 2005, with more Katrinas possible. Image credit: "NOAA":http://www.noaa.gov