Missourians and Kansans weary of the hot summer can brace for a cold, snowy winter. The latest edition of “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” predicts cold temperatures and widespread snow for Great Plains states.
“The 2024 Farmers’ Almanac says, ‘The B-R-R is Back,’ meaning that there’s going to be a lot of cold temperatures coming to your neck of the woods this winter season,” managing editor Sandi Dunca said. “Overall, we’re thinking that it’s going to be ultimately more of a cold than a snowy winter, but we do see some occasional bouts of storminess bringing widespread rain and snow to your region.”
Duncan said the region can expect winterlike temperatures in the late fall, shortly after Thanksgiving.
“Winter is going to start a little bit early,” she said. “It looks like in December, the Farmers’ Almanac is calling for some snowy conditions. Some people like to have a little bit of white around the Christmas holidays, so that may happen, but looking into January and February, the cold is more the headliner this winter.”
The almanac also is calling for the cold to stretch beyond February.
“Winter is going to hang on,” Duncan said. “Even though the calendar may say spring, it looks like it’s going to be kind of a polar coaster, meaning that we see nice days that remind you that spring is coming, but overall, we see a kind of a chilly, rainy season on tap for you all.”
The Lewiston, Maine-based publication boasts a forecast accuracy rate of 80 percent to 85 percent. Duncan admitted they sometimes are off, citing last year’s forecast that predicted a colder than normal winter for Missouri.
“Cold weather kind of got stuck over Russia and China, so of course, you had some cold conditions, but our forecast was slightly off the mark,” she said. “But you know, we do our best. We try to give people an idea of what may come 12 months to 16 months down the road so that you can plan ahead.”
The Almanac says they use three scientific disciplines to make long-range predictions: solar science, the study of sunspots and other solar activity; climatology, the study of prevailing weather patterns; and meteorology, the study of the atmosphere. “We predict weather trends and events by comparing solar patterns and historical weather conditions with current solar activity.”
–Dwight Widaman |Metro Voic
