Canadians are in for a year of extreme temperatures, starting with another uncomfortable winter, according to predictions in the latest edition of the Old Farmer's Almanac.

Jack Burnett, managing editor of the Old Farmer's Almanac, says 2016 is shaping up to be anything but normal, with intense temperatures in store for winter and summer. On Wednesday, Burnett told CTV's Canada AM that winter will bring "the big chill," followed by a spring that will feel like "the big swamp," and a summer that will be best-described as "the big sweat."

For starters, Burnett had some hard-to-swallow advice for Canadians preparing for winter. "It's a good idea to go out and buy an extra scarf," he said on CTV News Channel. "Once you've done that, buy another couple extra."

The Old Farmer's Almanac is predicting the winter to be as much as five degrees colder than normal, with slightly less snowfall than average.

And while the winter forecast may sound ominous, the dry cold will come as a relief for many regions that were hit with heavy snow last year. Burnett accurately predicted 2015 to be the "T-Rex of winters" last year, but he had no such doom-and-gloom prediction for this season.

The Old Farmer's Almanac has been predicting the weather every year since it was first published in 1792. Burnett says the predictions have always been based on a combination of historical data, meteorological forecasts, climatology and solar science, but those predictions have become more streamlined as technology has improved.

"The old formula has long since been converted into computer algorithms," Burnett said. "We don't have a bunch of people sitting in rooms with quills, trying to figure it out."

Burnett says the Old Farmer's Almanac typically predicts the weather with about 80 per cent accuracy.

2016 predictions for Canada

Winter 2015/2016:

  • Cold and dry in Ontario, Quebec, B.C., Alberta and the Yukon
  • Mild and dry for much of Atlantic Canada, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut
  • Cold and wet through the Prairies
  • Cold and snowy through Calgary and the Rockies

Spring 2016:

  • Below-normal temperatures in western Quebec and Ontario
  • Above-normal precipitation in Ontario and below-normal precipitation in most other areas

Summer 2016:

  • Hot and dry in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Yukon and much of the East Coast
  • Hot and wet in B.C., Northwest Territories, Nunavut and southern Quebec

Autumn 2016:

  • Above-normal temperatures in the eastern half of Canada and below-normal temperatures in the West
  • Precipitation will be above normal in B.C. and Atlantic Canada, and below normal in most other areas