Farmers’ Almanac predicts frigid winter for most of North America except B.C.

The Farmers’ Almanac is predicting a “shake, shiver and shovel” winter for much of the U.S. and Canada.

“The big shake-up this winter season will be frigid temperatures that will flow into many areas — especially across the Rockies and Prairies,” it posted on its website in advance of the magazine hitting stores on Aug. 15.

“During the month of January, Canadians may see one of the coldest Arctic outbreaks in recent years with temperatures reaching as low as -20 Celsius to -40 C.”

The outlook is different for B.C. and the Pacific Northwest.

“British Columbia should see about average amounts of winter precipitation, but with brisk temperatures,” the almanac says. “Skiing should be decent this upcoming season.”

It forecasts an active storm track travelling from the western Gulf of Mexico to the northeast into the Maritimes.

“This means that places to the south and east of the storm track (the Maritimes) will see a good number of cold rains and storms filled with snow, sleet, ice, and rain,” the almanac says. “Areas north and west of this active track — Labrador, Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario, and the Great Lakes — will more often-than-not see winter’s precipitation fall as snow, and sometimes a lot of it.”

It refers to the prairie provinces as a “hibernation zone” with “glacial” temperatures and lots of snow.

It’s forecasting heavy snow in Ontario and Quebec around Jan. 20 to 23 hitting the prairie provinces Jan. 24 to 27. More snow, especially in eastern areas, is forecast for Feb 16 to 19.

Its U.S. forecast calls for “heavy snows to torrents of rain to gusty thunderstorms” across the country late into March.

Washington state and Oregon are forecast to be much like B.C. with average precipitation while California is forecast to be mild and drier than normal.

Last year, the Farmers’ Almanac predicted a winter that “flip flopped” between mild and cold in the Thompson-Okanagan region.

READ MORE: Farmer's Almanac predicts 'frosty flip-flop' this winter in Kamloops, Okanagan

That proved to be the case, with six daily high temperatures being broken on Feb. 7 in the region. Highs were in the 13 to 14 C range.

READ MORE: Record-breaking warm temperatures in Thompson-Okanagan

January 2021 started off frigid with a high of -10 C in Kelowna on Jan. 1 and -14.2 C in Kamloops on Jan. 5. It gradually warmed up with daily highs above freezing until later in the month. It warmed up again in February to those record high levels then dropped to well before freezing in mid-month.

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