U.S. weather forecasters are divided over how cold the coming winter will be, with predictions ranging from freezing to mild in the key northeast and midwest heating regions. The divided outlook follows last year s surprisingly mild winter, the warmest on record, which surprised most meteorologists and triggered a plunge in natural-gas prices that hurt consumers with locked supply contracts. The issue dividing forecasters this year is the coming El Nino, a warming trend in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that has been absent for years and can alter weather patterns around the world. Climate scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said Monday that Earth may be close to the warmest it has been in the last million years, especially in the equatorial Pacific where El Ninos develop. For the United States, a strong El Nino typically means warmer winters from the west coast to the central plains, with cooler weather in the east.
