ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) -
Our unseasonably cool summer makes some worry it will be a fiercely cold winter. The Farmer's Almanac seems to agree. It issued a warning for the Midwest Tuesday: bundle up. It's going to be bad.
The National Weather Service, which employs many more meteorologists and scientists say we'll have a normal to slightly warm winter. But the Farmer's Almanac has some dire predictions and some people still subscribe to their age-old ways.
As roller bladders zoom by and bicycles glide by and joggers roll by along the path surrounding Creve Coeur Lake Park, one mile away Andy Welle rides a tractor, spraying the tomatoes in one of the only family farms left in St. Louis County.
"Somewhere along the way I think we're gonna pay for all this nice weather and get hammered," he says.
The summer temperatures were well below average, and September began with more of an autumn feel.
"Some people are like, 'No I'm not ready,' but it's here. It's coming," says Karen Mary Becker of the Kirkwood Farmers' Market, standing among pumpkins and mums.
Becker knows some "old farmers' tales" of how to predict the weather. "You can look at horse's coat, if your horse gets a real heavy coat or when you see chipmunks burying a whole bunch of their little food that's another thing that maybe the winter will be harder. There's some truth in it."
The National Weather Service, which employs many meteorologists and scientists predict a normal to slightly warmer than normal Midwest winter, but the farmer's almanac has some dire predictions: somewhere between very cold and bitter cold. But the amount of snow should be average.
Welle, who works for Thiess Family Farms, says he does not put much weight in the almanac's predictions.
"We don't necessarily go by any of that," he says. "We don't adjust our plans because of what that says."
"There's nothing we can do, it's Mother Nature taking charge and playing her hand and we just have to deal with what she gives us, you know."
"Just keep our fingers crossed and pray."
The National Weather Service, which employs many more meteorologists and scientists say we'll have a normal to slightly warm winter. But the Farmer's Almanac has some dire predictions and some people still subscribe to their age-old ways.
As roller bladders zoom by and bicycles glide by and joggers roll by along the path surrounding Creve Coeur Lake Park, one mile away Andy Welle rides a tractor, spraying the tomatoes in one of the only family farms left in St. Louis County.
"Somewhere along the way I think we're gonna pay for all this nice weather and get hammered," he says.
The summer temperatures were well below average, and September began with more of an autumn feel.
"Some people are like, 'No I'm not ready,' but it's here. It's coming," says Karen Mary Becker of the Kirkwood Farmers' Market, standing among pumpkins and mums.
Becker knows some "old farmers' tales" of how to predict the weather. "You can look at horse's coat, if your horse gets a real heavy coat or when you see chipmunks burying a whole bunch of their little food that's another thing that maybe the winter will be harder. There's some truth in it."
The National Weather Service, which employs many meteorologists and scientists predict a normal to slightly warmer than normal Midwest winter, but the farmer's almanac has some dire predictions: somewhere between very cold and bitter cold. But the amount of snow should be average.
Welle, who works for Thiess Family Farms, says he does not put much weight in the almanac's predictions.
"We don't necessarily go by any of that," he says. "We don't adjust our plans because of what that says."
"There's nothing we can do, it's Mother Nature taking charge and playing her hand and we just have to deal with what she gives us, you know."
"Just keep our fingers crossed and pray."
