14 News, WFIE, Evansville, Henderson, OwensboroIndiana's winter is "warmest since 2002"

A meteorologist says Indiana's mild winter that's lured some spring flowers into early bloom has been the state's warmest in a decade.

Senior National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Koch in Indianapolis says Indiana's winter has averaged about 5.6 degrees warmer than normal, making it the warmest since 2002.

He says that through Feb. 16, it's been Indiana's 11th-warmest winter based on weather records that go back 142 years. Koch tells the Herald-Times of Bloomington that the mild weather is likely due to a cooling of the central Pacific known as La Nina that's kept the jet stream further north.

That means cold, snowy weather has stayed farther north as well, giving the state a mild winter.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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