Farmer’s Almanac Drops Surprising Forecast for Rest of Idaho’s Winter

The holiday season has come and gone and depending what part of Idaho you’re reading this in, Mother Nature left you with a big lump of coal in your stocking if you were dreaming of a White Christmas. 

In the Boise area, Christmas Eve brought .27 inches of precipitation but it was all rain and the high temperature that day was 56. Christmas Day was a little cooler, but with the thermometer reaching 42 for the high, the trace of precipitation the area saw was rain drops, not fluffy snowflakes. Twin Falls missed out on a White Christmas, too. 

READ MORE: Boise, Idaho's 10 Snowiest Winters in History

It rained on Christmas Eve in both Lewiston and Moscow.  The Coeur d’Alene area got rain as well. While the snow wasn’t particularly deep in Eastern Idaho, they officially had a white Christmas as Idaho Falls recorded an inch of new snow on Christmas Day. Rexburg and Pocatello got less, but still got what’s considered measurable snowfall. 

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Despite the lack of snow in your own backyard, there is some good news! The mountains have been getting significant snow with the Idaho SNOTEL Snowpack Update Report showing most areas ahead of schedule for where the snowpack should be in early January. 

How Does the Farmer’s Almanac Predict Winter Weather?

Most meteorologists caution you against putting stock into extended forecasts that look beyond 10 days, but for people who LOVE their snow, it’s always fun to look at what the Farmer’s Almanacs say could be coming our way.  

When making their predictions, the Old Farmer's Almanac uses solar patterns and historical weather conditions, paired with current solar activity. They consider 30 years of data compiled by agencies like the National Weather Service. They say the formula resulted in a 64% accurate forecast for last winter, but notes that they’re usually much closer…around 80%

The other Farmer’s Almanac says that they have a proven formula that uses celestial events and meteorological conditions laid out by their founder in 1818, but also considers things like sunspots, motion of the moon and proprietary factors like these. 

Farmer’s Almanac Predicts the Rest of Idaho’s Winter

The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts that yes precipitation and snowfall will be average or above average in Region 13. That’s the region that includes all of Idaho, as well as portions of Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. They say the snowiest periods will be early-January, late-January and mid-March. As for temperature?  They say prepare for the coldest temps in Late January. If you dig deeper into their two-month forecast, they’re predicting a snowstorm for the lower half of the state during the week of January 19-22. 

Meanwhile, the Farmer’s Almanac is predicting unsettled weather with snow January 20-23rd and the possibility of a major storm bringing heavy snow to the Bitterroot Range sometime between February 4-7th. 

Will their predictions play out? We’ll have to wait and see!