How accurate has Old Farmers’ Almanac been in recent years for Indiana winters?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The upcoming winter will be “cold, snowy” for Indiana and the Midwest, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac winter outlook released Tuesday.

This outlook should not be confused with the Farmers’ Almanac, which is its rival publication.

Meteorological winter is from December to February, but the Old Farmer’s Almanac has a less specific timeline and generally runs from November to March.

A couple weeks ago, Storm Track 8 looked at the Farmers’ Almanac and its predictions from previous years. Was the Old Farmer’s Almanac any more accurate in Indiana?

Displayed below are each of the Old Farmer’s Predictions from the past five years. The months evaluated are November to March because these are the months the Old Farmer’s Almanac uses to see if its predictions were correct in the previous year. Most of their predictions in the past five years were precipitation forecasts, which includes rainfall, melted-down snow, and slush.

With that being said, the winter stretching from the 2017-18 season to the 2019-20 season all featured above-average precipitation and below-average snowfall. This resulted in its predictions being correct based on the wording of its predictions being wetter than normal. Generally, Old Farmer’s Almanac has done OK in the last five years, with its most-accurate winter coming in 2019-20. However, 2021-22 was tricky in Indianapolis regarding precipitation and snowfall. Snowfall was below average and precipitation was right near normal, so we will give it to them barely.

The Farmers’ Almanac forecasts its winter outlook from December to March, which is slightly different from the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Comparing the two almanacs, the Old Farmer’s Almanac has done a little bit better for its forecasted time period than the Farmer’s Almanac recently.

As a reminder, the Farmer’s Almanac this year is calling for a similar prediction of “unreasonably cold, snowy” conditions.