Old Farmer’s Almanac Releases Winter Forecast For SE Wyoming

The Old Farmer's Almanac has released it's predictions for the upcoming winter of 2024-2025.

High Plains Forecast, Including Cheyenne

For the high plains, which includes the area just east of the Rocky Mountains from Canada south to northern Texas, including Cheyenne, southeast Laramie County, and communities such as Torrington and Wheatland, the forecast is ''Winter temperatures will be warmer than normal in the northern parts of this region—and colder than normal in the southern areas. Expect the coldest periods in early and mid-January and early to late February.''

The Farmer's Almanac says snow will be normal to somewhat above normal, but it says ''don't expect extremes."

Intermountain Area Forecast

For the Intermountain area, which begins just west of the High Plains and includes Laramie and Albany County towards it's eastern edge, the forecast is for plenty of snow. "Precipitation and snowfall will be average or above average throughout the Intermountain Region. The snowiest periods will fall in mid-November, early and late January, and mid-March."

But it says the winter months won't be all that cold. ''Winter won’t be especially frigid, with temperatures above normal. The coldest periods are in late November and late January.''

The almanac explains how it comes up with it's predictions this way:

We predict weather trends and events by comparing solar patterns and historical weather conditions with current solar activity. We employ three disciplines to make our long-range predictions: 

• solar science, the study of sunspots and other solar activity; 
• climatology, the study of prevailing weather patterns; and
• meteorology, the study of the atmosphere. 

But the publication admits that, just like all weather forecasters, it can't be totally accurate in it's predictions. It adds that the predictions are often very close to it's traditional claim of being 80 percent accurate

Cheyenne meteorlogist Don Day Jr. will be releasing his winter weather forecast in the next few days. It will be interesting to see whether his predictions are similar to those of the Old Farmer's Almanac.