Old Farmer's Almanac Predicts Super Cold Winter

As many in the northeast are still trying to dig themselves out of last winter's 10 foot snowdrifts, The Old Farmer's Almanac has made a very unwelcome announcement. They predict it will be super cold this winter with a slew of snow for much of the country, even in places that don't usually see too much of it, like the Pacific Northwest.

So as you gear up for another intense winter season, look for above-normal snow and below-normal temperatures for much of New England; icy conditions in parts of the South; and frigid weather in the Midwest. The snowiest periods in the Pacific Northwest will be in mid-December, early to mid-January and mid- to late February, the almanac predicts.

"Just about everybody who gets snow will have a White Christmas in one capacity or another," editor Janice Stillman said from Dublin, New Hampshire, where the almanac is compiled. It is due to release this coming week and the Envi Heater will be one of its featured heaters!

The almanac says there will be above normal-rainfall in the first half of the winter in California, but then that will dry up and the drought is expected to continue. "We don't expect a whole lot of relief," Stillman said.

The weather predictions are based on a secret formula that founder Robert B. Thomas designed using solar cycles, climatology and meteorology. Forecasts emphasize how much temperature and precipitation will deviate from 30-year averages compiled by government agencies.

The 224-year-old almanac, believed to be the oldest continually published periodical in North America, is 26 years older than its closest competitor, "The Farmers' Almanac," published in Maine and due out later in August.