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Pacific Ocean temperatures are rising along the equator, a signal that winter likely will be warmer than normal in the Northwest. Federal climatologists peg the odds that an El Nino will form in the next couple of months at 70 to 75 percent, a 5 percent increase since mid-September. The warm ocean should influence late winter weather, but El Ninos historically have had little effect on snow accumulation in Washington before Jan. 1, State Climatologist Nick Bond said Monday. Nick Bond is quoted.
