Warm summer forecast for most of U.S.

WASHINGTON -- And the heat goes on. Forecasters predict toasty temperatures will stretch through the summer in the United States. That's a bad sign for wildfires in the West.

June through August will get warmer-than-normal weather for about three-quarters of the nation, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said yesterday.

The warmth is expected south of a line stretching from middle New Jersey to southern Idaho. Only tiny portions of northwestern United States and Alaska are predicted to be cooler than average and that's only for June.

Last May until April was the hottest 12-month period on record for the nation, with records going back to 1895. This year so far has seen the hottest March, the third-warmest April and the fourth-warmest January and February in U.S. weather history.

And it was one of the least snowy years on record in the Lower 48. Some people called it the year without winter. -- AP