The 2019 edition of the Farmers' Almanac is out now, and winter lovers are going to like what they see. The forecast to get to this point though, is a bit different from what normally goes into a forecast.
Editor of the 2019 Farmers' Almanac Peter Geiger explains how they come up with the forecast.
"We use a mathematical formula that was developed in the early 1800s, and we've been doing it now for 200 years and only 7 people have been doing it over the 200 years," he says.
The Farmers' Almanac covers more than just this upcoming winter.
"The formula is applied to sun spot activity, planet positions, the effect that the moon has on the earth, and that has allowed us to do our weather two years in advance," Geiger adds.
As for the actual forecast for our area? Well according to the Farmers' Almanac, it's time to get a good winter coat.
"This particular winter looks frigid. Not just for you, but I think all the way down to Louisiana. It's just, the central part of the country is just going to get the cold blast and it's going to be there for quite a while," Geiger explains.
3 News Now meteorologist Ryan McPike remembers waiting anxiously to see the Farmers' Almanac each year when he was a kid.
"As a weather geek I used to go to the grocery store a lot with my parents and every time one of these guys would come out I would just go nuts looking for it," McPike says.
People still enjoy the information found in the almanac, but McPike knows it's not an end all, be all forecast.
"Now that i'm a full fledged meteorologist with a degree and a college education, like i said it's still fun to look at this, but believe me there's still a lot more science, at least for this guy, that goes into those long range forecasts," McPike adds.
On the flip side, the Climate Prediction Center outlooks still show us in warmer than average temperatures as we head into the winter months. Keep checking back with us, and we'll be bringing you our winter forecast in the coming months.
