U.S. winter to be severe, long-lasting

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Jan. 20 (UPI) -- There'll be no quick end to winter, U.S. forecasters say, with persistent cold through at least mid-February in much of the eastern two-thirds of the country.

Wintry events could occur as late as April in some areas, later than last year, AccuWeather.com reported Thursday.

Based on those predictions, this winter could end up being the coldest for the nation as a whole since the 1980s, forecasters say.

Temperatures since Dec. 1, 2010, have averaged below normal from Boston and New York to Chicago, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Atlanta and even Miami.

The colder-than-normal weather pattern may not break until late February into March, AccuWeather long-range forecaster Joe Bastardi said.

Bastardi warned there could be a return of cold and storms across the northern part of the nation, including the Great Lakes and Northeast, from mid- or late March into April.

Late-season winter storms in the Plains and East are common during La Ninas, when sea surface temperatures across the equatorial central and eastern Pacific are below normal.

La Ninas also tend to "conjure up a more intense severe weather season," which typically ramps up in April into May from the southern Plains to the Great Lakes, mid-Atlantic and Southeast, Bastardi says.