Quantifying The Record Warm Winter 2012

During Q1 there was a lot of discussion of record warm weather across the US.  Such anomalous weather can have a significant effect on seasonally adjusted economic data which is generally seasonally adjusted higher during the winter as cold weather slows the economy.  Looking back with some perspective, the map below shows the actual divergence from normal temperatures across the US over the course of the first quarter.

Even though the west didn't have the above normal temperatures that affected the midwest and east, we did have somewhat less precipitation.  Being from Los Angeles, rain causes much more havoc here than below average temperatures, so the fact that we didn't get much was probably a moderate boost to this region.