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Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stsimon who wrote (1749)	3/16/2001 11:35:47 AM
From: excardog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

Some summer weather stuff; US NWS Long Range: West US Energy Crisis May Resume in Summer ... Mar. 16-MAR-- By Drew Lerner Kansas City, March 16 (BridgeNews Global Weather Services) - A hot summer was predicted by the U.S. National Weather Service for the western and southern U.S. in its latest set of long-range weather forecast maps Thursday. The hot weather will bolster air conditioning use inducing a possible new peak in electricity demand and further straining California's fuel crisis, BridgeNews Global Weather Services said in interpreting the long range forecast. Meanwhile, a mild summer is expected in the central Plains and Midwest. Spring is likely to be warm in the southern states. * * * The end of the supplemental heating season across the contiguous U.S. will likely be rather benign in April, based on the NWS forecast. A cooler than usual temperature bias may linger during the month in Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, Wisconsin, western Michigan and northernmost parts of both Illinois and Indiana during April. The cool bias may induce periods of higher than usual late season heating fuel demand, but the impact on supply should not be very great. A warmer-than-usual spring season is probable in the southern states, according to the NWS. If the warmth occurs as expected there would likely be an early start to air conditioning use across the region. Persistent warmer than usual conditions from California through Texas to Georgia and Florida during April probably would not have a huge impact on electricity or natural gas demand, but continued warm weather in May and June might lead to some stronger than usual energy consumption. The NWS suggested the heart of the warmest weather in mid to late spring would shift more into California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas rather than the lower Mississippi Basin or interior southeastern states. Energy demand should still be higher than usual in those areas if the warmth prevails, GWS said. SUMMER PRODUCES COOLER WEATHER IN PLAINS, HEAT IN BOTH THE WEST AND SOUTH Summer weather patterns will shift around a little bit so that the nation's most persistent warmer than usual conditions occur in the eastern, western and far southern portions of the nation. If the forecast verifies a strong cooling fuel demand is likely to evolve west of the Continental Divide, through most of the southern states and near and east of the Appalachian Mountains. Natural gas and electricity consumption could be high in each of these warmer than usual areas during the peak air conditioning use months of summer. In contrast, the NWS suggested cooler temperatures relative to normal would evolve this summer over the heart of the U.S. Below-average readings were predicted for Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa and Missouri during the June-August period. The cooler bias may expand east across the northern Midwest during the July through September period. Cooler-than-usual conditions in the central U.S. may lead to a slightly reduced natural gas and electricity demand rate as consumers reduce their dependency on air conditioning systems for living comfort. GWS notes that many of the recent past summers have been predicted to be cooler than usual in the central U.S. just as the NWS has predicted for this coming season. GWS believes there is more evidence that this year's forecast will verify with simultaneously reinforces the potential for warmer than usual weather in the western states. GWS is a little less confidant over the hot during the heart of summer. End Copyright 2001 Bridge Information Systems Inc. All rights reserved. The bridge.com ID for this story is BQDVNMG