Canadian Farmer's Almanac predicts icy cold, snowy winter

According to the Canadian Farmers' Almanac, this winter is going to be icy cold and snowy.

That's bad news for anyone who enjoyed last year's mild winter months, which stayed as mild as Canada gets thanks to the El Nino weather pattern.

• Sunny, cool Labour Daylong weekend ahead

That's all over, the Almanac's editor Pete Geiger told CBC Radio's Metro Morning.

"We think old man winter is going to return," he said.

"It's going to be downright cold."

We know what you're thinking he's wrong, right? Unfortunately, Geiger said in non-El Nino years the Almanac is anywhere from 80-85 per cent accurate.

The real cold weather, he said, will begin in October and will largely stick around. Geiger expects the middle of January and all of February to be the worst of the winter, or as he puts it, the time when you don't want to go outside at all.

"It'll be winter in Canada, just as we always dreamed it would be,"Geiger, who is actually based in Maine, said.

Some other predictions for the winter?

• The Almanac predicts a big snow storm will hit sometime between Dec. 8-11
• There could be some warm-ups, including a New Year's Day to welcome 2017
• There will be more snow than last year, with some major storms hitting the city as well

The Almanac's new audience? Millennials

This year's publication is the 200th edition of the Farmer's Almanac, which forecasts its weather patterns some two years in advance based on mathematical formulas written in the 1800s.

But Geiger said the Almanac is far from a relic. In fact, millennials are among the book's biggest fans.

Geiger said millennials are more concerned about not throwing things away and doing work with their hands, topics the Almanac covers through hundreds of tried and true pieces of advice.

"In the early days, it was about saving money. Now it's about being good to the environment and growing your own food," said Geiger, who has read every edition.

The Almanac's other biggest fans, he said, are people planning weddings.

"I consider myself a bride's best friend," he said with a laugh.

That is, unless they're getting married this winter.