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Old Farmer Almanac Predicts Coldest Winter in Years

Every year it seems we get hit with new threats of extreme weather and natural disasters. That’s because each year, changing weather patterns continue to shatter previous records. Take this summer, for example. Between the wildfires, hurricanes, and tornadoes, chaos feels like the norm sometimes.

It wasn’t too long ago that the Grand Canyon National Parks Service issued a statement regarding heat advisories in the area. While these are pretty standard year to year, this season marked the park’s hottest summer yet. If that wasn’t concerning enough, more bad news looms around the corner regarding this upcoming winter. The news comes from a pretty reliable source, too: The Farmer’s Almanac.

Preliminary Winter Weather Forecast Predicts ‘A Season of Shivers’ for United States

The Farmer’s Almanac is a publication over 200 years old that makes some pretty big claims. In fact, it confidently sticks behind its assertion that it provides predictions made with 80% accuracy. If this upcoming winter turns out anything like their predictions for the 2021-2022 season, we might be in for a world of hurt… and frostbite.

Already dubbing it as a “season of shivers,” editor Janice Stillman warns of “one of the longest and coldest [winters] that we’ve seen in years.” Snippets of their published report rank predicted weather patterns on a continuum with the options mild, dry, snowy, warm, wet, and cold. Hawaii is the only state to cop a predicted warm, dry winter. The rest of the states show a pretty bleak picture. They even tag Florida as more prone to experiencing a cold, dry winter. A majority of the south gets a cold, wet label with parts of Texas marked as cold and snowy. No matter where you turn your head, you’re looking at a different iteration of cold, cold, cold.

So, which parts should expect the brunt of it? Well, they are pretty sure we can expect above-average snowfall in the forecast spanning from eastern Montana southward through the western halves of both Dakotas and into the northeastern bit of Colorado. This is all to say, even if the temperatures in this region don’t drop significantly, snowfall will still be abundant with several storms predicted throughout the season.

You can access the full weather report and predictions here.

A meteorologist also shared a photo from the full report to Twitter:

How Do They Do It?

On their site, The Old Farmer’s Almanac chalks up their accuracy to the use of three separate scientific disciplines. The first discipline is solar science. This involves the study of sunspots and other solar activity. Next, they utilize climatology. This is known as the study of common weather patterns.

Lastly, they closely follow the science of meteorology. Another way to describe this is the study of the atmosphere. In combination, this triad of methods allows them to make the most accurate long-range predictions.