Fox News seized on a cold winter forecast from the Farmers' Almanac to mock global warming. But meteorologists say the periodical, whose prediction has been hyped by many in the media, is "like the Ouija board of weather."

Fox News, along with some other conservative media outlets, used the publication's prediction to cast doubt on global warming:

Even if the publication's predictions were accurate, it would do nothing to contradict the long-term trend of warmer global temperatures, including warmer winters in the U.S.:

Yet more remarkable than Fox's annual mockery of global warming is that its source essentially gives out the horoscopes of the weather world. Farmers' Almanac broadcasts vague predictions based on a “secret formula” of “tides, astronomical events” and other factors known only to their pseudonymous weatherman Caleb Weatherbee. It then declares itself correct 80 percent of the time -- apparently based on its readers' assessments, as the outlet has not done any actual analysis. Due to this, a Fox News meteorologist previously said she was "weary" of Almanac forecasts.

Yet now the channel is hyping a prediction that The Washington Post Chief Meteorologist Jason Samenow called “outrageous” and “baseless,” concluding that “only a fool would take them seriously.”

What's worse is that Fox News is not alone: The Associated Press, in a widely reprinted article, broadcast the same weather predictions from the Farmers' Almanac, noting that "[m]odern scientists don't put much stock in" the Farmers' Alamanac's methods, but then credulously repeating its claim that it is “correct about 80 percent of the time.” Additionally, in a seeming violation of their own stylebook, AP referred to “Caleb Weatherbee” without explicitly stating that this is a pseudonym.