Climate prediction skills, drought, and the weather, water and climate of the western states are main topics of the 28th Annual Climate Diagnostics and Prediction Workshop being held by the Desert Research Institue and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration October 20-23 in Sparks. The workshop, to be attended by about 120 climatologists and scientists in related fields from around the country, is organized by the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md.

Workshop sessions will review data analylitical methods for understanding and predicting variability, and look at new information and analyses on El Nino and La Nina patterns, drought conditions, and factors affecting weather patterns in the West such as mountain winter storms and the American Southwestern Monsoon. A number of workshop sessions, held at John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks, involve reports on research by DRI scientists. The annual NOAA climate workshop series is held in a different U.S. location each year.