FINAL PREDICTION: Outgoing hurricane chief warns about 'big one'

Frustrated with people and politicians who refuse to listen or learn, National Hurricane Center chief Max Mayfield ended his 34-year government career Wednesday in search of a new platform for getting his unwelcome message: Hurricane Katrina was nothing compared with The Big One yet to come.

Unseasonable weather jolts Northeast

As Marie Goff drove up the muddy access road to the top of the bobsled track at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Saturday, the thermometer on the dashboard caught her eye.

"Unbelievable, 51 degrees," said Goff, a driver for the Olympic Regional Development Authority. "Thank goodness it stopped raining and thank goodness the track is refrigerated."

The balmy winter, which has sap running, the buds on the trees are sprouting, and dogs are shedding their winter coats, has been unlike any other in Goff's memory, and she's 83.