Don't expect this year's prairie winter to be much different than usual.

That's from the Old Farmer's Almanac that has looked at the forecast for December, January and February.

"Well, we're looking at, for the winter, which will be coming sooner rather than later, we're looking for it to be not quite so cold as the past, and it's still going to be cold," says Jack Burnett, managing editor of Old Farmer's Almanac. "It's still going to be a prairies and Manitoba winter, for sure, but by a tiny amount, not quite so. It's going to be snowy, but a lot of the snow is going to be on the wetter side. We see it being more of a, ever so slightly, watery winter rather than super snowy. Unfortunately, what that means is, more of the edge-type precipitation -- sleet and freezing rain where the temperatures are high enough."

Burnett says they are anticipating three blasts of snow through the winter season: the end of November, middle of January, and the beginning of March. Deep freeze-wise, there is a bit of cross-over.

"What we're looking at, as far as the real hardcore cold goes, is the end of December, through all of January, except for the second week of January," says Burnett. "Now you would say, 'well, of course, that's when winter is -- January', and that's certainly true, but what's kind of interesting is, that we really don't see any super cold sieges from February into March or even April. We think that, by the end of January, the real hardcore deep freeze will be over."

Burnett does say there is potential for a very cold Christmas and Boxing Day for southern Manitoba this December.

You can get the latest edition of the Old Farmer's Almanac or the Old Farmer's Almanac: Canadian Edition here.