We might actually have to wear jackets this winter, if the Farmer’s Almanac predictions are right.
Managing editor Sandi Duncan said it's probably going to be even colder than last winter.
“We’re calling it the stinging cold winter on tap for your area. So we do think it’s going to be kind of a teeth-chattering cold winter,” said Duncan. “I see the word frost, frigid, cold, very cold. It starts the beginning of December and then January it looks really cold and then February—unseasonably cold.”
The Farmer’s Almanac, based in Maine, forecasts our area, Zone 5, will have average precipitation.
In contradiction, Old Farmer’s Almanac contributing editor Tim Clark says November, January and February will each be about six degrees warmer than usual.
“We think that January, February and March will all be considerably above average temperatures,” said Clark. “Our prediction is that winter is going to be milder and dryer than normal.”
He said it won’t be until April before we get more than average rainfall.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac is the oldest continuously published periodical in North America (227 years) and is based in New Hampshire. There are 18 different regions in the nation, which are based on the direction of storms. We're in the Texas-Oklahoma region and doesn't include El Paso or West Texas.
Clark said looking well ahead the Old Farmer’s Almanac experts predict a tropical storm threat NEXT August and a hurricane threat NEXT September.
Both publications boast about 80 percent accuracy.