Farmers Almanac Weather Prognosis

The 2011 Edition of the Farmers Almanac has been released and, if you believe their long range weather predicitons, we're gonna be in for a cold and snowy winter.  Looking even farther ahead, next summer will be very warm with average rainfall.  Meteorologists at the National Weather Service tend to take a dim view of such long range weather predictions which the folks at the Farmers Almanac say are based on a secret formula that takes into consideration such things as sun spots and phases of the moon.  Results?  Well, they predicted bitterly cold and dry in the Great Lakes region for last winter while we had average temps and slightly above normal snow fall.  The Almanac also said the northeastern U-S would be average for temps and precipitation.  But records were broken for seasonal snowfall in New York, Washington D-C and other cities that experienced several winter blizzards.  Throwing darts blindfolded at a chart of generic weather terms might work just as well.