Get ready for a cold, wet winter in southern Manitoba. At least, that's what the Old Farmer's Almanac Canadian Edition is forecasting.

Other forecasters are suggesting a very strong El Nino that's building in Central America and the northern South American coast will create a very mild winter up here. But Jack Burnett, Managing Editor for the Almanac says they don't expect the El Nino to be that strong. He recalls last winter when there were similar reports of a near full strength El Nino, and then in the end a much weaker one, only about half as strong materialized. He says this year will likely be the same story.

"We're kind of rooting for ourselves to be wrong," admits Burnett. "Because if we're wrong then that means a lot more rain will come into the southwestern United States and the western part of Canada."

Burnett says it looks like southern Manitoba is in store for a pleasant Autumn with temperatures in September and October only about one degree cooler than normal. He adds September could see a little more precipitation than what we're used to. The cooler trend is expected to carry into the latter part of 2015, where November's average temperature should be two degrees below normal and for December, one degree off the average mark. Then comes January, where the average temperature is expected to be five degrees below normal. Burnett says the coldest periods of winter will be mid December, all of January and then mid February.

As for precipitation, Burnett says the snowiest periods should be late November, mid December and late March. He says it doesn't appear any big blizzards will hit southern Manitoba and in fact, according to Burnett, snowfall will be average, but with more sleet and ice, it will bring up precipitation amounts.

"(We're) looking to get a little bit of snow starting towards the end of October but nothing that's going to stick around," he says.

Burnett says their methods for building forecasts are the same as what founder Robert B. Thomas used back in the 1790's. The Old Farmer's Almanac looks at meteorology, climatology and solar science.

But Burnett says they will use the formula and then rely on weather observations from the past to determine what sort of weather pattern we might be in and then what that could possibly mean for the future.Meanwhile, Burnett says following the big chill will be the big sweat, as next summer should be hotter than normal.