Farmers' Almanac says get ready to shake, shiver and shovel in Colorado this winter

The Farmers' Almanac is warning a large part of the United States, including all of Colorado, to be ready to shake, shiver and shovel this winter. The popular outlook is predicting that a cold and snowy season will kick off early as an active storm track sets up during the month of December. If this happens it could bode well for a white Christmas in many areas.

The almanac has all of Colorado included within a region described as a hibernation zone that will be glacial and snow-filled. In fact, according to the outlook, most of the lower 48 states will have a bone-chilling winter season.

The prediction specifically calls out the first week of January as a stormy time for the Rocky Mountains. They say to expect heavy snow that could impact areas as far south as Texas and Oklahoma. The snow would be followed by a round a bitterly cold air. 

Then later in the month they say bouts of heavy rain and snow will hit the eastern two-thirds of the country between the 16th and 23rd, followed by some of the coldest air we've seen in several years. How cold? Potentially 40 degrees below zero according to their prediction.

NOAA has yet to release their winter outlook but has said that La Niña is favored once again for the third winter in a row. La Niña winters in Colorado can produce a wide variety of conditions, but on average, we often see windy, cool and sometimes snowy weather in the northern part of the state with mild and dry conditions in the south and southwest. If La Niña ends up weakening that could add an extra wild card to the extended forecast.

I would not panic over the predictions from the Farmers' Almanac. December can be a busy weather month for the nation with an active jet stream as winter weather patterns set up.  I would use caution at the prediction of specific dates in the month of January for winter storms.

As far as the prediction for extreme cold, historically, late January and early February is the coldest time of the year in the lower 48 states, and it isn't uncommon to see a few temperatures hit 40 below zero near the Canadian border, in places such as northern Minnesota and North Dakota.