The Farmers' Almanac has released its first frost forecast for the 2026-27 winter season, offering an early look at when Ohioans may notice winter taking hold.
Here's when the more-than-200-year-old publication predicts Ohioans may need to bring their potted plants indoors.
According to the almanac, most of the Midwest usually sees its first frost around early to late October.
Cincinnati sits just south of that range, according to a visualization. Its expected to see it's first frost between late October to mid-November.
Specifically, the almanac predicted Cincinnati's first frost will be Oct. 20. The National Weather Service of Wilmington said Cincinnati's first freezing temperature will most likely arrive around Nov. 5.
By spring, the almanac predicted the Queen City's last possible day of frost will be April 23.
According to its website, the almanac uses a mix of sunspot cycles, lunar position, tidal pull, and historical pattern weighting to make its long-range forecast.
Frost conditions are ideal when air temperatures are around 33 to 36 degrees under calm conditions, according to the almanac. Freezing begins at 32, it said, and most unprotected vegetation will be killed around 24 or lower.
The almanac has been making forecasts since 1818. It reports 80% to 85% accuracy on regional outlooks.
Others equate predictions made by almanacs to the accuracy of a flip of a coin: A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study done in 2010 found that 51.9% of the monthly precipitation forecasts and 50.7% of the monthly temperature forecasts were accurate.
Meteorologists often caution that forecasts made several months in advance carry significant uncertainty, especially at the local level.
The USATODAY Network contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: When will Ohio get cold? See Farmers' Almanac first frost map