Almanac Predicts Unusually Cold Winter

[kurth]

Almanac Predicts Unusually Cold Winter
Associated Press

LEWISTON, Maine -- After one of the warmest winters on record, this coming winter will be much colder than normal from coast to coast, according to the latest edition of the venerable Farmers' Almanac. The nearly 190-year-old almanac, which says its forecasts are accurate 80 percent to 85 percent of the time, correctly predicted a "polar coaster" of dramatic swings for last winter, editor Peter Geiger said. For example, New York City collected 40 inches of snow even though it was one of the warmest winters in the city's history.

This year, predicts the almanac's reclusive forecaster, Caleb Weatherbee, it will be frigid from the Gulf Coast all the way up the East Coast. But it'll be especially nippy on the Northern Plains -- up to 20 degrees below seasonal norms in much of Montana, the Dakotas and part of Wyoming, he writes. And, he says, it'll be especially snowy across the nation's midsection, much of the Pacific Northwest, the mountains of the Southwest and parts of eastern New England.

Last winter was the fifth-warmest on average in the lower 48 states. Forty-one states had temperatures above average, according to the National Climatic Data Center. That reduced energy demand by an estimated 11 percent, it said.

This year's retail edition of the Farmers' Almanac is the biggest ever, at 208 pages. It includes traditional charts on astronomy, average frost dates, and planting and gardening calendars. It also has the usual down-home features and cornball humor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/27/AR2006082700772.html

[RebelOne]

1. Yippee!! Give me some cold weather.

I love winter and last year's was too warm for me. In fact, I didn't have to use my furnace at all. I got by on just 2 space heaters. Of course, we never get real extreme cold here in North Georgia.

[unhappycamper]

2. Nothing like a little whiteout to change your views.

Personally, I detest cold weather.

[misanthrope]

14. Try living on the Gulf Coast a couple of years...

...and we'll see how your opinion of the seasons changes.

A colder winter means we might actually get to experience a fall this year. Granted, it likely won't be until late November, but anything's better than our usual "autumn" which is comprised of counting down the days until Christmas (when there's a chance you might be able to turn off the air conditioner) and watching death and destruction blow in off of the Gulf.

I'm jealous of the replies in this thread as it looks like many of you get to enjoy my favorite season of the year, one I haven't seen since moving to this place too many years ago.

[bdamomma]

20. where was this picture taken? is it RI??

watch out for heating bills. nevermind looks like Reservior Avenue in Cranston!!!

[Pharaoh]

5. We have winter in Wisconsin

I think what you have in georgia would be called september here.

[sarge43]

3. For what's worth, here in central NH,

the trees are starting to put on their fall colors and most of the humming birds have left, that's usually a heads up for an early and hard wintah.

[Individualist]

8. Edges of my maple tree leaves have turned red

in northeast TN. I first noticed it last week and commented "I wonder if this tree knows something we don't!"

[soothsayer]

15. In VA, the deer are having their second round of babies---a month

early! uh oh

[deaniac21]

22. In Arkansas deer usually have fawns.

[Coexist]

18. that is very interesting - yesterday at practice,

I noticed a lot of dragonflies everywhere (I am in Florida). I usually don't see them until mid-September. When they come out in droves like that, it means the oppressive heat is gone in another 4 weeks or so.

BTW - this is not scientific, just my personal observations over the years.

[deaniac21]

23. Food for thought

http://www.naba.org/sightings/Multitudesofbutterflies.htm

[Cassandra]

4. Makes me glad I bought new boots.

I think a new fleece bathrobe to go with my down booties is also going to be a good idea.

[Pharaoh]

6. I was just on my way

to look at corn stoves!

[Fierce]

7. I love winter and am happy to hear this.

I hope it turns out. I also hope we get on the (ahem) stick and hurry up and buy that wood-burning furnace. Aw yeah.

[Vinca]

9. We live in southern New Hampshire and it's been chilly enough

in the evening to run the pellet stove. I'm worried that a very cold winter will cause serious hardship to people on fixed incomes and those earning a minimum wage will only be able to look at heating oil. A hard winter could be devasting to both health and wallet.

[MadHound]

10. Good, we need a seriously cold winter, and hopefully a snowy one too

Out here in Missouri we've been overrun with bugs, who haven't experienced a natural die-off due to the last two abnormally warm winters. We're also in the middle of a drought. A cold winter, with lots of snow will alliviate both of those problems.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. What a relief!

Global warming is over!

(Doncha know that come January all the Freeps will be saying "I told you so"?)

[soothsayer]

16. well, global warming DOES lead to the next ice age, so....

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Anything about Alaska?

We've had a very cool wet summer. I'm thinking we're in for a cold snowy winter, but I'd be interested in what the Almanac says.

[Coexist]

21. let's hope it is cold enough to help out the polar bears

I read about how the warm winters were tough on their populations.

[NaturalHigh]

13. Right now, I don't care if we have sub-Arctic temperatures...

just so long as this blistering summer is over soon.

[LWolf]

17. grumble.

x(

My outdoor plumbing doesn't go deep enough to keep it from freezing up in the winter; apparently whoever put it in didn't want to spend the time, energy, and $$$ to bore through the rock down there. I'm hauling buckets of water from the house to water the stock everytime the pipes freeze up. In the dark, since the days are short.

I wonder if some heatwrap would at least keep the pipes in the barn from freezing?

[NicoleM]

19. I'm in Minnesota

and a week or more ago I saw flocks of birds flying south. I wouldn't be surprised if the Almanac was right this time.