Yo-yo temperatures, sleet, freezing rain and a bitterly cold January: that's what the Old Farmer's Almanac says we're in for this winter in Manitoba.

"We're looking at a psycho winter," said Jack Burnett, managing editor of the Old Farmer's Almanac.

That translates to unreliable and unpredictable temperatures and weather conditions, said Burnett.

The good news is Manitoba will have less snow than usual, he said, although we'll have more other forms of precipitation, such as freezing drizzle, sleet, and rain.

El Niño is part of what explains the unusual weather, said Burnett. El Niñ​o is the band of warm water off the coast of Central America that normally creates milder temperatures in Manitoba.

"We don't think that (El Niñ​o) going to be as severe as predicted," said Burnett.

January, especially, will buck the El Niñ​o trend, with temperatures at least five degrees colder than average, he said.

Attack of 'The Blob'

What makes this winter interesting for Burnett is what he calls "the blob."

"It's actually a backwards c-shaped section of warmer than normal water off British Columbia, Washington and Oregon," he said. "We don't know whether that's actually going tamp down on El Niñ​o."

"It's going to be an interesting up and down back and forth" winter, he said.