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Reporter-News Archives   Tuesday, December 21, 1999 Winter still weeks away for West Texans By JERRY DANIEL REED Senior Staff Writer Pay no mind to the calendar or the early week’s weather. We’re not about to start three months of hard winter. Not according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which foresees for West Central Texas 90 days of warmer and drier weather for the winter that begins Wednesday. Some surprise, after a summer hotter and drier than normal, and a fall warmer and drier. Despite the continuing drought, the high temperatures may prove a bigger headache than the low precipitation expected this winter. Even in normal years, winter rains and snows scarcely add to city lakes or country stock tanks, and provide little moisture to thirsty soils. But overly warm winters provide incubators for bumper crops of insect pests from boll weevils to dog ticks, and for weeds of all types. Warmth also encourages domestic grasses to break dormancy early, adding weeks to required care at just the time when a crucial element of that care, water, is in limited supply or restricted in use. Blame La Nina, the lesser-known sister of El Nino, for the warmer and drier winter expected here. La Nina is the name given to a complex system of weather events that starts with unusually cold Pacific Ocean temperatures west of South America. El Nino systems start with unusually warm temperatures in the same equatorial seas. Winter is poised to officially arrive at 1:44 a.m. Wednesday near the end of a three-day string of genuinely wintry weather. Late Sunday, a cold front arrived to drop temperatures to near freezing before dawn Monday, followed by readings of around 40 degrees during the day. The chill was expected to continue today, the shortest day of the year, and into Wednesday before a warming trend sets in as Christmas weekend nears. The National Weather Service in San Angelo expects typical Abilene winter weather to greet Santa Claus, with an overnight low near the freezing mark early Christmas morning. By Christmas afternoon, temperatures are expected to climb several degrees above the usual mid-50s reading for Dec. 25. Jerry Reed can be reached at 676-6769 or at reedj@abinews.com. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: Enter their email address below:  texnews.com Reporter OnLine Local News Texas News Copyright ©1999, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications

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