Populous

Predicated on the El Nino weather pattern, the populous Northeast and Midwest could see a mild start to the winter, but turn “significantly colder” in January and February — with no sustained extremes, according to a preliminary winter forecast by AccuWeather. The forecast calls for a milder winter for the West Coast.

Predicated on the El Nino weather pattern, the populous Northeast and Midwest could see a mild start to the winter, but turn “significantly colder” in January and February — with no sustained extremes, according to a preliminary winter forecast by AccuWeather. The forecast calls for a milder winter for the West Coast.

California’s energy crisis in 2000-2001 socked the nation’s most populous state with a bill approaching $45 billion, according to a study released Wednesday by a private, nonprofit San Francisco-based think tank, the Public Policy Institute of California. State policymakers need to forge “a new consensus on energy” or risk having the crisis repeated, the institute’s report said.