A weather prediction service that’s been operating since 1818 has released it’s fall outlook for the United States, including Colorado.

With the start of fall about a month and a half away, Farmers’ Almanac is calling for a major weather shift in the Centennial State compared to what’s been present throughout the summer.

Their prediction for the ‘North Central’ region, which includes Colorado, is that fall of 2024 “may be downright frigid, with lots of fall flakes and rain” – an obvious departure from the hot and dry conditions that have been present in Colorado during recent weeks.

This prediction is roughly the opposite of what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted for September and October, with their seasonal outlooks showing the likelihood of above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation during this period. The NOAA outlook for November is yet to be released.

Could the start of fall on September 22 bring colder and wet days to the state? Or will Colorado’s hot streak continue? We’ll have to wait and see.

It’s also worth noting that predictive reports from almanacs tend to be met with a bit of controversy in the weather forecasting community. According to an article from Popular Mechanics, almanacs of this nature “might be right sometimes, but it’s not real science.” Farmers’ Almanac has detailed their “proprietary formula” for forecasting weather before, noting that details such as sunspot activity, tidal action of the Moon, the position of the planets, and other factors come into play in their final report, claiming a long-term accuracy of about 80 to 85 percent. That claim has been heavily debated by outside sources.