The 2008 Old Farmer's Almanac is out, and with it comes the eagerly anticipated - if not always reliable - forecast for this winter's weather. The bottom line seems to be this: If you love frigid weather and plenty of snow, this may not be the Baltimore winter of your dreams.

Of course, if you've paid attention to this blog, and to the forecasts from National Weather Service climatologists, you already knew that. This is shaping up to be another La Nina winter, which for us means mild weather without much snow.

The Old Farmer, using his "proprietary" prognostication system, agrees. The Mid-Atlantic region, from Rhode Island, down the coast to South Carolina, is looking at "mild and dry" weather this winter, he said. There will be mild weather, but more snow inland, from the Ohio Valley up the Appalachians into New England. That includes Garrett County and a bit more of far-Western Maryland, but not us down here on the coastal plain.

The Deep South looks to be cool and dry, and most of the rest of the U.S., from the Great Lakes to Texas, the Great Plains and the Northwest, all should be "mild and dry" if the Old Farmer is on the beam.

More specifically, the Almanac predicts the first flurries along the mid-Atlantic coast in mid-December, with "rain and snow, then sunny, very cold" around Christmas. I don't see any mention here of a big storm all the rest of the winter. There's a prediction for bit of snow amid very cold outbreaks in late January and mid-February, but nothing emphatic.

Farther ahead the old boy sees a relatively  "hot, wet" summer, capped by a hurricane in the last week of September.

Snow-lovers might want to head west. The Almanac does forecast "heavy snowfalls" for Appalachian Maryland (from roughly Carroll and Frederick to Allegany counties) in mid-December, mid-to-late January and mid-to-late February.  

Next up: The Hagers-town Town and Country Almanack. Stay tuned.