Snowy Or Wet: Almanacs At Polar Opposites With HV Winter Forecast

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Dueling forecasters are at polar opposites when it comes to their winter predictions for the Hudson Valley. Followers of the Farmers' Almanac are bracing for a snowy, bone-chilling season while the Old Farmer's Almanac's devotees are shunning snow blowers and taking out umbrellas.

The two meteorologic publishers may have almost identical names, but their long-range forecasts are like night and day.

The Farmers' Almanac, which released its prediction on Aug. 26, expects colder-than-normal temperatures and a lot of snow, with the frostiest snap coming during the last week of January and stretching into February. Winter weather will last into April.

But the Old Farmer's Almanac, which unveiled its forecast earlier in the month, expects the Northeast to be wet and warmer than normal.

"The middle of the country and New England can bank on a slush fund as 'more wet than white' conditions will leave sludgy messes that freeze during the overnights," its forecast says.

The Old Farmer's Almanac has been forecasting the weather since 1792 and was founded by Robert B. Thomas who lived in Maine.

The Farmers' Almanac was founded In New Hampshire by David Young in 1818.

Both use secret formulas to predict the weather that they keep closely guarded.

The two made opposite predictions last winter, too, with the Farmers' Almanac warning it would be colder and snowier than normal, while the Old Farmer's Almanac predicted the Northeast would be warm, wet and with less snow than on average.

The winter of 2018-19 fell somewhere between the two forecasts.

Written by Adam Nichols, Patch Staff.