As Oregon bakes under late-August hot weather, The Old Farmer’s Almanac has just come out with its annual weather predictions, and it warns that the upcoming winter in the Pacific Northwest will be “wet (or worse!).”

While meteorologists will tell you it’s impossible to accurately predict weather patterns months in advance, that’s never stopped the Almanac, which has been dishing up long-range predictions since 1792.

The Almanac comes up with its predictions using a secret formula created over 200 years ago by founder Robert B. Thomas, and they claim it’s been refined to incorporate modern technology and scientific calculations. While the editors claim they were 80.5% accurate with last year’s winter predictions, you probably should put as much stock in their forecast as you do in astrology predictions. It may be nonsense, but it’s a lot of fun.

So what’s in store for us this winter? The Almanac says the Pacific Northwest will be warmer and rainier than normal, and that we’ll see below-average snowfall. Late December and January will be the coldest periods, and the snowiest periods will be from late December through January.

The Old Farmer's Almanac has come out with its annual winter weather predictions.

But hey, at least we’re not going to suffer like folks in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa, where winter will be “snowy, icy, icky,” or those poor people in New England, who face a “wet & wild” winter.

The editors at the Almanac don’t stop there. They also have a forecast for the summer of 2020, when the Northwest with be hot and rainy. We’ll take that over the “muggy & buggy” prediction for the Deep South.

-- Grant Butler

gbutler@oregonian.com

503-221-8566; @grantbutler

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