Farmers' Almanac predicts plenty of 'snow, rain and mush' for northern Ohio

It's August and we already have a reason to be grumpy about winter.

The Farmers' Almanac has released its annual predictions for winter and the news is not good unless you are a fan of snow, rain and mush.

The venerable publication that has been around since 1818 says it will be an "unreasonably" cold winter in northern Ohio.

And it may be pretty active weatherwise too.

The almanac says there will be active storms in the Midwest and more snow this year earlier than usual, even arriving in early December.

These bursts of snow could make a white Christmas a real possibility this year.

White Christmas in northern Ohio: Odds of white Christmas historically low in northern Ohio

They are also predicting that temperatures could chill well below zero in mid January with record or near-record lows possible.

The almanac has dubbed this winter as one where folks should be ready to "shake, shiver and shovel" before the arrival of spring.

There are a lot of ways to predict winter from studying the size of the black band of a woolly bear caterpillar to the bushiness of a squirrel's tail.

But the Farmers' Almanac says it makes its calculations two years out studying everything from sunspots to the tidal action of the moon to the position of the planets.

They claim an 80% accuracy rate but the ultimate proof will be measured in the number of snow days for kids.

Craig Webb, who wishes he too got snow days from work, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Rough winter predicted by Farmers' Almanac for northern Ohio