Typically, you can find the long-range forecast here on my blog on the third Thursday of every month. Unfortunately, last Thursday I found myself in bed with the flu. I apologize that this is late. It might not have been worth waiting for anyway.

For the second month in a row, the long-range outlook released today by the Climate Prediction Center, forecasts an "equal chance of above average or below average precipitation." In other words, there's nothing in the climatologists' tools leading them to believe that our Spring weather pattern will be anything other than average. The temperature forecast also says an "equal chance of above or below average temperatures." We will likely have periods of colder or warmer than average weather, but on a whole, March, April and May will probably be about what you would expect in the Inland Northwest. CLICK HERE for much more on the long-range forecast.

La Nina, the cooling of the sea-surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, is weakening, but it is expected to maintain at least moderate strength through the Spring. Its impacts on the weather pattern in the Northwest, however, have diminished since the big snows of our La Nina winter.