Hot Outside? See What Farmer's Almanac Says About Upcoming Winter

By Charlene Arsenault (Patch Staff) August 17, 2015

Using its “secret formula,” for decades, the Old Farmer’s Almanac has been predicting its long-range weather forecasts. Some call it malarkey, while others swear by it and claim its more accurate than the National Weather Service or other meteorology centers.

Whether you believe it or not, we thought you’d like to know, as you’re blanketed in heat, that the prediction for the country for the 2015-2016 winter season is largely snowy and really cold.

You can order the long-range prediction online on the Almanac’s site, or get your hard copy in the mail.

The Huffington Post reports that the Old Farmer’s Almanac calls for below-normal temps and above-normal snow levels for New England. It’s going to be frigid in the Midwest and icy in some areas of the South, and the Pacific Northwest should brace from some snowy periods in December.

An editor for the Almanac told the Post that “everybody who gets snow will have a White Christmas.”

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, it derives its forecasts “from a secret formula that was devised by the founder of this Almanac, Robert B. Thomas, in 1792. Thomas believed that weather on Earth was influenced by sunspots, which are magnetic storms on the surface of the Sun.”

This formula, they say, is locked in a black box in the Dublin, NH, offices.

The formula, too, has been “refined and enhanced with state-of-the-art technology and modern scientific calculations. We employ three scientific disciplines to make our long-range predictions: solar science, the study of sunspots and other solar activity; climatology, the study of prevailing weather patterns; and meteorology, the study of the atmosphere. We predict weather trends and events by comparing solar patterns and historical weather conditions with current solar activity.”

So do you believe it? If so, better make sure your snow-blower is tuned up.