LOUISVILLE, Ky. — If the Farmer's Almanac is to be believed, we are in for a cold, wet, and white 2024-2025 winter season.
However, the Almanac predicted a colder than average and snowy winter for 2023-2024's season. As we know, it went on to be the warmest winter on record with well below average snowfall.
Before relying on that long range forecast, let's review how Louisville's past winters have turned out.
We typically see the most snow of the season during the month of January, second most in February, and the least in December.
Through the month of December, January and February, our snow totals average out to a grand total of 10.8 inches.
Of course, there have been plenty of outliers. For example, January 1978 went down in history as the snowiest month that Louisville has ever witnessed. A little over 28 inches of snow fell in the span of one month.
We are still over 100 days away from the official start to winter on Dec. 21, though we usually see our first trace of snow and measurable snow fall before then.
Louisville usually sees a trace amount of snow by mid-November and measurable snow in early December. The average first one inch of snow falls the day after Christmas, and the first four inches of the season falls Jan. 21.
It is important to keep in mind that the past few winter seasons have underperformed by a long shot, as we only received about four and a half inches for the past two years straight.
We are certainly due for a fruitful winter season with a lot of snow! However, hoping the Farmer's Alamanac is correct will only get us so far. Weather forecasts are incredibly inaccurate months in advance.
Last year's Almanac forecasted a colder than average winter season, but 2023-2024 became the warmest winter on record. In fact, you are better off flipping a coin on the winter season, as the Almanac is correct just 52% of the time.
It is at least more accurate than Punxsutawny Phil, but not something you may want to put money on.
Continue to stay weather aware and follow the Weather Impact Team's latest forecast.
