GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota's winter is starting off on the dry side, and forecasters say warmer temperatures and little precipitation are expected over the next three months.
"We're sitting smack-dab between a split jet stream," said Mark Ewens, the data manager for the Grand Forks office of the National Weather Service office. Part of the jet stream runs over the southern United States, while the other part is flowing over Canada, he said.
"The centers of low pressure that would produce precipitation are traveling too far to our south or too far to the north to bring heavy snowfalls to the area, so we get the light dustings," Ewens said.
In Bismarck, the National Weather Service said temperatures are expected to be above normal from February through April, while precipitation is forecast to be normal in the Missouri, James and Souris River basins.
"Soil moisture and future runoff will be low, unless winter conditions change drastically," the weather service outlook said.
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It could mean a dry growing season for area farmers.
"Unless we get significant rains ... we'll be starting off with a soil moisture deficit," Ewens said.
"I think it's gotten everybody a little nervous because we depleted our stored soil moisture last year with the dry conditions," said Paul Rutherford, who grows sugar beets in rural East Grand Forks, Minn. "We need moisture badly. Snow helps, but it's going to be crucial to get timely spring rains."
Rutherford said that rather than contribute to moist soil, snow helps to keep dirt in the fields by weighing it down against heavy winds. Most snowmelt is run-off because the ground is still covered by frost in the spring, he said.
He's hoping for at least 10 more days of cold weather.
Right now, he's hoping for cold weather, at least 10 more days of it, so the sugar beet piles can freeze through.
Paul Dolan, general manager of Associated Potato Growers Inc., said he doesn't want snow now, but he wouldn't mind a bit of the heavy, wet stuff in March.
"I'm not that fond of shoveling, so if I have to shovel for just one month, that's just fine with me," he said.
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Until the recent cold spell hit, Laurel Shroyer's children came home from sledding at the dike covered in mud, she said.
"I'm disappointed," said Shroyer, whose twin daughters, Erin and Megan, were skating at the Kelly Park rink during the brief snow spurt Thursday. "I wish we had more snow."
