Environment Canada's long range forecast for the winter looks like it'll be fairly mild because of the El Nino.

But the Farmer's Almanac is calling for a colder and snowier winter season.

The senior climatologist with Environment Canada David Phillips says it could go either way.

"They use wooly bear caterpillars and moon phases, I don't think there's a lot of science behind theirs, however having said that we're not always right ourselves, and we use super computers" he cautions. "My gosh they say only a fool or a meteorologist would dare forecast the weather in Alberta."

He says the Farmer's Almanac also had a disadvantage in that it had to come up with the forecast months ago before the El Nino formed.

He says the weather in Alberta is so variable it's a real challenge to get it right.