03/23/07 Flex Fuel Vehicles & Weird Winter

Flex Fuel Vehicles & Weird Winter. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. According to sales data for 2006 - sales of alternative fuel vehicles have really taken off. Research and consulting firm R.L. Polk and Company says an unprecedented 1.5-million alternative fuel automobiles were sold in 2006 - surpassing automaker sales expectations by 50-percent - and bringing the total number of flex-fuel vehicles on U.S. roads to 10.5-million. Manufacturers - who recently celebrated National Alternative Fuel Auto Week - are currently offering 60 models of alternative fuel autos for sale - five times the number offered in 2000. That includes hybrid electric - ethanol-capable E-85 - and clean diesels. The onset of warmer than normal weather in the west is causing some concern in addition to giving some crops an early boost. USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey says this past winter is hard to label. RIPPEY: The winter was so topsy-turvy that it's almost worthless to look at the national stats which indicated a winter that was a little bit on the warm side and just a tad on the dry side but you have to remember that just about any given geographic location had widely variable conditions. For example the Midwest, so warm the first half of winter; bitterly cold the second half. California went from the big freeze in January to a warm February. Now here's today's Washington Grange Report. (GRANGE) That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.