Cold, Snowy Winter Ahead in Hudson Valley's Long-Term Forecast: Farmers' Almanac

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — You're going to want to make sure you have a snow shovel and or snowblower handy this winter if the latest Farmers' Almanac winter forecast for the Hudson Valley is to be believed. With summer coming to a close, many are looking toward the winter to make holiday plans and prepare for more cold weather. While the last two winters have been relatively mild, The Farmers' Almanac is predicting a cold and snowy winter for the Hudson Valley and the rest of the Northeast.

In its recently released 2017-2018 winter forecast, the 200-year-old weather resource predicted winter conditions to be "a bit more normal" as far as temperatures are concerned in the eastern part of the country. In addition, locales east of the Rocky Mountains are expected to experience "above-normal precipitation." (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"From the Great Lakes into the Northeast, snowier-than-normal conditions are expected," says the Farmers' Almanac website."We can hear the skiers, boarders and snowmobilers cheering from here!"

The forecast for the Northeast — from Maryland to Maine — includes "snowier-than-normal" conditions, and the publication has "red-flagged" five time periods for heavy precipitation along the Atlantic Seaboard: Jan. 20-23; Feb. 4-7, 16-19; and March 1-3, 20-23.

If the forecast holds true, parts of New York could be in for more than 50 inches of snow this winter. Average total snowfall for Poughkeepsie is 32.8 inches. For White Plains, it's 27.7 inches, according to weather data collected from 1981 to 2010 for the NOAA National Climatic Data Center.

Now in its 200th year, the Farmers' Almanac uses the the same combination of sunspots, tides and other weather factors it's been using since 1818 to make its prediction. And its latest 2018 edition, which hits bookstores this week, spells out the usual icy doom and freezing gloom for Empire Staters this winter.

Reporting from Mike Carraggi was used in this report.

Patch file photo