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January 25, 2011 at 7:55 AM

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La Nina, are you out there?

Posted by Jack Broom

We were told to expect a winter that could be wetter, snowier and colder than normal, but with temperatures around 50 and a dry pattern shaping up, we’re wondering: Whazzup?

The situation is puzzling the professionals, including University of Washington meteorologist and blogger Cliff Mass.

“Whatever is going on seems to be overwhelming the normal La Nina pattern around here and over the rest of the western U.S.,” Mass notes. “Our snowpack is below normal and California is wet . . . a situation normally associated with El Nino years.”

Yes, we could still get plenty of cold and snow before winter is over, but at this point, ridges of high pressure that are setting the pattern of moderate weather here – while the East Coast gets hit with cold weather – appears to be holding.

Notes Mass: “My profession has years of productive work ahead to figure all this out.”

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