"It's just one of those things where everybody is concerned about global warming but it's just very good for the golf business," said Michael Williams, marketing director at Golf Court Specialist, a company that manages several golf courses in the Washington area.

He said with temperatures soaring to 23 degrees Celsius (74 degrees Fahrenheit) last weekend, one golf course in Virginia, near the US capital, had one of its best business days of the year.

"With 74 degrees on a Saturday in the middle of winter, you just get flooded with people," Williams said.

The open-air swimming pool at the YMCA in Bethesda, Maryland, outside Washington, also drew a huge crowd last weekend, said spokeswoman Carol Gregory.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2006 was the warmest year on record for the United States, with average temperatures at 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 Celsius), 1.2 degrees above the 20th century mean.

In five eastern and northern US states, last month was the warmest December on record. And despite fierce snowstorms in Colorado, no state was colder than average in December, the fourth warmest December since 1895, according to NOAA scientists.

NOAA attributed the unusually warm weather to the El Nino effect and "the long-term warming trend which has been linked to increases in greenhouse gases".

It said that warm temperatures between October and December had reduced the nation's residential energy demand by approximately 13.5 percent.

In the US capital, for example, the power company Pepco said consumption was down 7.3 percent when compared with the same period the previous year.

Gardens laden with swollen buds or camellias, winter honeysuckle and Japanese apricot, all in flower, have become curious attractions.

New York's Botanical Garden is inviting visitors to come witness the floral display and is planning a special educational and horticultural weekend this spring about gardening in today's changing climatic conditions.

"To have a moderate winter of an average 50 degrees (F) through fall and winter is unusual," Sarah Carter, a curator at the garden, told AFP. "We're seeing a lot of plants that normally flower around March or April starting to flower now."

But while the warm temperatures have been welcomed by many Americans, they have spelled disaster for ski resorts and specialty stores, some of which have been forced to lay off employees. Farmers are also worried that apple trees, grape vines and strawberry plants could be confused into thinking spring has arrived early. Freezing temperatures in California, meanwhile, have sent shudders among citrus growers who risk losing their crops.

In the San Joaquin Valley, farmers are using huge fans to blow warm air in the fields to try to save nearly one billion dollars' worth of oranges, tangerines and lemons. Temperatures over the weekend were expected to dip near zero or below, with snow expected in parts of the state.

Related Links
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Weather News at TerraDaily.com