How Bad Will This Winter Be In PA? Almanacs Release Predictions

PENNSYLVANIA — Summer is unofficially over, and colder weather will be here before you know it. How cold, though?

The Old Farmer’s Almanac and its rival forecast predictor, Farmer’s Almanac, recently released longterm forecasts for winter 2020.

The dueling almanacs seem to have very different predictions on how severe the upcoming winter season will be.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac says Pennsylvania can look forward to a warmer than usual winter.

The centuries-old forecaster, founded in 1792, is predicting our state can expect a “wet and wild” winter in the coming months.

That prediction contradicts the forecast from the 2019-20 Farmers’ Almanac, which says the upcoming winter will be colder than normal. The folks at the Farmers’ Almanac are preparing for a “Frosty, Wet & White” winter season.

"The Northeast, including the densely populated corridor running from Washington to Boston, will experience colder-than-normal temperatures for much of the upcoming winter. Only the western third of the country will see near-normal winter temperatures, which means fewer shivers for them," forecasters at the Farmers' Almanac said in the prediction.

According to the Farmers’ Almanac, the coldest outbreak of the season should arrive during the final week of January and last through the beginning of February.

Over at The Old Farmer’s Almanac, forecasters say winter 2020 in the U.S. will be remembered for storms that bring an unrelenting amount of rain, sleet and snow — including seven “big snowstorms” across the country.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is North America’s oldest continuously published periodical, according to their website. The organization is based in New Hampshire, and their mission statement remains: “Our main endeavour is to be useful, but with a pleasant degree of humor.”

The Farmers’ Almanac doesn’t use satellite data or other methods to make predictions, but rather a “secret” mathematical and astronomical formula based on factors such as sunspot activity and the tidal action of the moon.