From Jared Rackley, former UGA graduate student and now working for the NWS in Louisiana:

Still think the Farmers’ Almanac is reliable? How did that “Penetrating Cold and Very Wet” winter work out for you?
As March begins, meteorological winter (Dec.-Feb.) comes to an end. This winter was not only unseasonably warm across much of the US, but it also broke records as the warmest winter for many cities. To close out the record warm winter, February’s inferno shattered monthly February temperature records in many places. Atlanta’s average monthly temperature will end up a whopping 8.9 degrees above normal and blew away the monthly record by 1.5 degrees. Down here, Houston’s average high temperature for Feb was 10.2 degrees above normal, their average temp was 9.7 above normal, and they beat the all time February record by 3.1 degrees!

This is why it’s so troubling to hear people relying on the Farmers’ Almanac as a legitimate source for long term forecasts, (and why it was absolutely ridiculous for United’s CEO to cite the Almanac as the basis for prepping for a harsh winter… [seewww.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/09/07/really-united-airlines-says-preparing-for-harsh-winter-based-on-farmers-almanac ]). #ForecastBust #FarmersGetsAnF

Here’s a link to last year’s discussion of the 2015-16 winter forecast: https://site.extension.uga.edu/climate/2016/09/how-did-the-farmers-almanac-do-last-winter/.  Not much better.  If you are still using the Farmers’ Almanac for your winter forecasts, maybe you should think again.