Get Ready for a Winter Wonderland!
The 2024 Old Farmer’s Almanac is available everywhere, from sea to shining sea! With our official debut, we can unveil the complete 2023-2024 winter weather forecast. We’ll share the General Weather Report and Forecast for the U.S., all 18 regional summaries, and a look inside the new 2024 edition.
Also, see our Canadian winter forecast here!
The Old Farmer’s Almanac 2023-2024 Winter Forecast
Here at the Almanac, we are long-term planners and prognosticators! Winter arrives this year on December 21, 2023. On the winter solstice, those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere are tilted as far away from our Sun as possible. Winter brings cooler weather, the joy of winter sports, curling by the fire, and the holiday spirit. It also brings shoveling, snow blowing, dealing with bad roads, and sometimes unbearable temperatures. What will winter bring this year??
A WINTER WONDERLAND!
The 2024 Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts snow, seasonable cold, and all of winter’s delights! This winter’s forecast will surely excite snow bunnies and sweater lovers alike, promising a lot of cold and snow across North America!
- Snowfall will be above normal across most snow-prone areas (except for the Pacific Northwest). Get prepared for oodles of fluffy white throughout the season! Keep a shovel at the ready early, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, where snow will arrive beginning in November with storms, showers, and flurries continuing through the start of spring.
- Along with above-normal snow, we’ll see normal to colder-than-normal temperatures in areas that typically receive snow. Expect just the right amount of chill in the air for an afternoon of adventurous snow sports or enjoying a big ol’ mug of hot cocoa by a crackling fire. Only snowy New England and the Atlantic Corridor will enjoy winter temperatures milder than typical for their regions.
REFRESHING RELIEF
Wetter-than-usual weather is coming to the southern portions of the Deep South, Texas, and California, with potentially drought-quenching rain. As the winter map shows, much of the U.S. coastline, from New England down to Florida across the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Southwest, will experience mild to cool temperatures.
SWEATER WEATHER
This is the theme for the coastline of the Pacific Northwest, which will be relatively dry and cold throughout the season. While storm clouds will typically deliver rain, snow is possible for late December and mid-January.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which has been issuing its 80 percent-accurate forecasts since 1792, can be found anywhere books and magazines are sold.
What Influences This Winter Forecast
We are approaching the middle of Solar Cycle 25, which is increasing in intensity and already as strong as Solar Cycle 24, which possibly had the lowest solar activity in about 200 years. Such low activity has historically meant cooler-than-average temperatures across Earth, but this connection has become weaker since the last century.
The expected El Niño has emerged and should gradually strengthen into the winter. El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon marked by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. Typically, El Niño conditions result in wetter-than-average conditions from southern California to along the Gulf Coast and drier-than-average conditions in the Pacific Northwest. Will we see a “Super El Niño?” We also expect a warm Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and a cool Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Also significant are the equatorial stratospheric winds involved in the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, or QBO.
Under certain combinations of meteorological conditions, the polar vortex can be displaced from the North Pole, which could open the door for cold blasts to hit southern Canada and the central and eastern United States during this upcoming winter.
Take a Look Inside
Weather is only a small part of what’s inside America’s oldest and top-selling almanac. After you come in from the cold, you’ll find The 2024 Old Farmer’s Almanac perfect for cozying up with plenty that’s “useful, with a pleasant degree of humor,” including…
- When oceans bring snow: Ocean currents move atmospheric moisture, affecting storms’ location and strength. As these currents slow, weather all over the planet is impacted, sometimes in extreme ways that may extend across centuries.
- Gardening for everyone (even those who don’t): Learn about the easiest garden edible that most aren’t growing (hint: it’s a key ingredient in baked goods), plants that go up in an actual puff of smoke, and the gardening trends blooming in 2024, including scratch-and-sniff plants and the continued push for no-lawn landscapes.
- Recipes for breakfast lovers: Enjoy fun facts about “warm cakes” while making blueberry buttermilk pancakes or traditional latkes, then try out a recipe for the hands-down, absolutely best bread for toast. It takes 18 hours, but it’s worth it! (Really.)
- Anecdotes & Pleasantries from Almanac readers: step-by-step instructions for hypnotizing your own foot, the protocol for when Groundhog Day goes horribly wrong, and a scientific study that settles the long-debated question of “What is America’s favorite pie?” (hint: it’s not apple).
- Stories that only the Almanac can tell: cures for colds, aches, and pains in a world of hurt; “mad” angling advice; nature’s creepiest wild things; memorable Olympic moments; the origin of Arlington National Cemetery; tips on how to enjoy 2024’s total solar eclipse; and much, much more!
Where to Buy the Almanac
- The 2024 Old Farmer’s Almanac is available for just $8.99 wherever books and magazines are sold. A full list of stores that carry The Old Farmer’s Almanac is available at Almanac.com/Wheretobuy.
- You can also find a soft cover bookstore edition with 32 supplemental pages in bookstores, including Amazon.com.
- Plus, visit our Almanac.com General Store for both the classic paperback with the hole as well as our hardcover collector’s edition.
Regional Forecasts
Look below for the regional forecast summaries for the 18 U.S. regions. You can find weekly details for all 12 months of the year in The 2024 Old Farmer’s Almanac.
