Farmers' Almanac: It's Gonna Be Another Cold One

If "firewood, sweaters, and hot cocoa " are your thing, the Farmers' Almanac has good news for you: Based on its secret predicting formula involving the likes of sunspots and lunar cycles, the publication says the winter to come will be as bitterly cold as the last, with especially cold weather ahead for the region from the northern plains to the Great Lakes. Meteorologists may scoff at the 198-year-old publication's methods, but it correctly predicted the nasty winter of 2013-14 while the federal Climate Prediction Center predicted a warmer than normal winter, the AP notes.

"It certainly looks like another long winter of shivery and shovelry is on tap," the almanac's "Caleb Weatherbee" writes, warning that the first 10 days of January and the first week of February have been "red-flagged" for "active wintry weather featuring bouts of heavy precipitation and strong winds" along the Atlantic seaboard. Last week, the rival Old Farmer's Almanac made similar predictions, forecasting a "super-cold" winter for much of the nation. "Colder is just almost too familiar a term," says the editor of the 223-year-old publication. "Think of it as a refriger-nation." (More Farmers' Almanac stories.)