Old Farmer's Almanac winter outlook

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Now that summer is winding down our attention starts to turn to what kind of weather might be on the way this winter.

Last week it was the Farmer's Almanac and now this week it's the Old Farmer's Almanac that has released its outlook for this winter.

After what has been a wetter than normal summer the last few weeks have been pretty nice. We've seen plenty of sunshine and fairly comfortable temperatures.

But now that the cooler weather is starting to move in our attention turns to what kind of winter could be ahead.

Last week the Farmer's Almanac released its forecast calling for a snowy and colder than normal winter.

Now the 218-year-old, Old Farmer's Almanac has released its prediction which also calls for a colder than normal winter.

But their prediction calls for below normal precipitation and snowfall. The Old Farmer's Almanac does predict a snowstorm though around Thanksgiving.

22News asked people what they think of these predictions. “I've read some of it and sometimes it's right on and sometimes it doesn't seem to be true. I don't know, I think it's kind of a roll of the dice,” said Lynn Dwyer of Springfield.

“I'll put more value in the meteorologists than I'll put into the Old Farmer's Almanac,” said Rikki King of Springfield.

“Yeah, I guess I wait for you guys. I'm hoping we're not going to have a bad winter,” said Roxanne Reel of Enfield, Connecticut.

Both the Farmer's Almanac and the Old Farmer's Almanac develop their predictions using sunspots, planetary positions, the effects of the moon and some meteorology.

The National Weather Service has not yet released its winter outlook, that usually comes out in October or November.

Looking ahead to next summer, the Old Farmer's Almanac is calling for a cooler than normal summer with below normal rainfall.