SQL query help

I need some help with this query problem: All responses greatly appreciated.

I created simple tables to simplify what I am really trying to do to make the problem easier to solve.

One table holds the state name and area name, the other contains days of rain or snow.

Tables:

SQL> select * from sa_states;

STATE                AREA


-------------------- -----------------


HI                   West
CO                   West
GA                   South
TX                   South
NY                   North
IN                   North

SQL> select * from sa_stat;

STATE                PREC


-------------------- -----------


HI                   Rain
HI                   Rain
GA                   Rain
GA                   Snow
TX                   Snow
IN                   Snow
IN                   Snow

I would like to count the number of snow days per state and group by area and then state.
Where a state has no record in the stat table I would like a zero to appear, I would also like a zero to appear if the state is in the stat table but only has rain.

The query listed below gives me the proper count and includes states not in the stat table but because of the second where clause does not return states in the stat table with only rain (i.e. HI) that I want to show up in the results with a count of zero.

Thanks alot for taking a look at this.
Pete

Current Query
SQL> select sa_states.state, sa_states.area, nvl(count(sa_stat.prec),0) as snow
  2 from sa_states, sa_stat
  3 where sa_states.state=sa_stat.state(+)   4 and nvl(sa_stat.prec, 'Snow')='Snow'   5 group by sa_states.area, sa_states.state;

STATE AREA SNOW
-------------------- -------------------- ---------

CO                   West                         0
GA                   South                        1
IN                   North                        2
NY                   North                        0
TX                   South                        1