Drought in the West, Freeze in the East--a Possible Explanation

The US West Coast is suffering a catastrophic drought. The eastern half of the country has just experienced one of the worst winters ever recorded. Now scientists at think they have at least a partial answer that explains both situations: a huge mass of unusually warm water that has formed in the Pacific Ocean off the West Coast. It prevents winter storms from moving south from the arctic as they normally do, and thus there is no rain along the west coast and, most importantly, no snow in the mountains. So, is it permanent or temporary?

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