Old Farmer’s Almanac Says A Mild, Dry Winter Lies Ahead For CA

California — The Old Farmer’s Almanac says a “season of shivers” with brutally cold temperatures and lots of snow awaits much of the United States this winter. In California, the almanac predicts a mild and dry winter.

"This coming winter could well be one of the longest and coldest that we’ve seen in years," Janice Stillman, editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac, said in a news release.

The old almanac's prediction is not far off from what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast last month. There's a 70 percent chance that the Golden State could be in for another La Niña winter between November and January 2022, according to NOAA.

This could mean very little rainfall and even more dry conditions for California in a time when more than 88 percent of the state is already steeped in extreme drought.

The forecast comes as the state battles another intensifying wildfire season, which has already scorched more than 1.88 million acres across its dry topography.

But these predictions aren't necessarily set in stone.

"Just saying there’s going to be a La Niña doesn’t mean it’s going to be dry and drought," NOAA climate scientist Michelle L’Heureux told KTLA. "We have certainly had La Niña winters where, lo and behold, there’s more precipitation than expected. That’s just less common."

Across America:

The Pacific Coast and parts of the Southwest will be spared the frigid cold, but also will remain relatively dry.

Temperatures are expected to be near normal, but abundant snowfall and frequent storms are forecast from eastern Montana southward through the western halves of the Dakotas and northeastern Colorado.

Cold, relatively dry weather is forecast for the Upper Midwest, except for an area around Lake Michigan that could see heavy snowfall.

A combination of super-cold temperatures and heavy snowfall is expected in areas from New England to the Ohio Valley to northern portions of the Deep South and southeast New Mexico.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is published by Yankee Publishing Inc., an employee-owned company based in Dublin, New Hampshire. The publication has been making weather forecasts for 230 years and claims an 80 percent accuracy rate.

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