Even though we are in the middle of summer, many people are starting to prepare for the winter ahead of us. That typically means making sure that you can bundle up in a nice winter coat, but you may want to rethink that possibility this year.
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, this year may be a very easy winter to get through. Across the world, we have seen a rise in temperatures and a gentler winter is being predicted for this year. According to the 2021 winter weather forecast, “For the United States, we predict that recent warming trends will dominate in the eastern and northern parts of the United States in the coming winter, with below-normal average temperatures limited to the western portion of the nation.” They continued, “Most of Canada will have a cold and snowy winter. However, rising temperature trends mean that the winter will not bring extreme cold; instead, it will be closer to normal.”
According to some experts, the coldest temperatures will be in the Western states and Northeastern New England. Mostly wet precipitation will be found in most of the country. In other words, they are expecting a wet wintertime with rain and below-average snowfall.
That doesn’t mean that all areas in the United States are off the hook this winter. Some are going to have heavy snowfall: “Snowfall will be greater than normal in the Northeast, Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, the High Plains, and northern Alaska and below normal in most other areas that receive snow.”
The Old Farmer’s Almanac got its start in 1792. You can go back as many years as you like to see the accuracy of their predictions. An accuracy of 80.5% was what was seen last year, which is slightly higher than the typical 80%.