A weather forecasting website is making its snowfall predictions for the winter ahead, and a UNL study suggests Nebraska's showing signs of global warming.
AccuWeather.com is putting out its nationwide winter forecast, with break-downs for each region. While last winter was unusually warm for much of the eastern two-thirds of the country, the site says that trend will continue this year for a wide section of the Northwest and Midwest.
Nebraska, in particular, is in the "below normal" category for snowfall. AccuWeather says less snowfall would translate to milder temps, though the overall forecast calls for fewer temperature extremes, compared to last winter.
Two areas of the country are forecast to get hit with "above normal" snowfall, a wide section of the East Coast as well as a cluster of states in the Rockies and the Southwest. The National Weather Service is expected to make its winter forecast in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln say definite signs of global warming are appearing over the decades in studies of temperature variations in Nebraska and across the region. Natalie Umphlett, the regional climatologist at UNL's High Plains Climate Center, says the region's average temp rose almost two-degrees in the past 115 years. North Dakota had the biggest rise at five-degrees.
Natalie Umphlett: 
The data is part of a study being released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Umphlett says it shows planting dates are falling earlier than normal in the six-state region.
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