We don’t put too much stock in long range forecasting and Joe Bastardi was really off-base last year. But to some extent, it’s all about the fantasy. Today, AccuWeather.com Chief Long-Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi released his 2008-09 Winter Season Forecast addressing issues of average temperature and precipitation impacting the nation. His forecast calls for one of the coldest winters in several years across much of the East.

AccuWeather’s Joe Bastardi Forecasts Coldest Winter in Five Years:

The core of cold was centered across the Great Plains last year but is expected to be farther east this year. Bastardi says the winter of 2008-2009 will be viewed as the hardest in several years. “It may be a shock to some when compared with the above-average temperatures of last year in the East. It will put some ‘brrrrrr’ in the saddle of folks who have not had to deal with such things for a while,” he cautions.

“In the eastern half of the nation, people will look at the winter as bookends of cold,” Bastardi said. He says the overall colder and snowier winter will be off to a cold start in December with perhaps the roughest winter month for much of the nation. It may finish with another cold spell in late January and February.