Sun to Blame for Missouri’s Bone-Chilling Arctic Air this Winter?

I've never been accused of being the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm having a hard time understanding how a new forecast calling for more bone-chilling arctic air in Missouri this coming winter is the sun's fault.

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It's a bit ironic that as I write this it's nearly 100 degrees in both Missouri and Illinois, but this is the time of the year when Farmer's Almanac is looking ahead to the winter months and the prediction for Missouri is interesting to say the least.

Before you go grabbing the snow shovel to prepare for a blizzard, the Farmer's Almanac forecast for Missouri for the upcoming 2023/2024 winter months doesn't predict unusually large amounts of snow. The warning is about something different entirely. They explain in one sentence where the problem lies:

Sun Spots May Mean Arctic Shots

They say that NOAA detected 163 sun spots in June which is bad news for Missouri come winter. They say those numerous sun spots "may open the door for shots of Arctic air to spread south across Canada into the United States".

In case you're new to Missouri and the Midwest in general, when arctic air comes flying down over our part of America, it brings with it super-cold temps and sometimes big storms like it did a few years ago when it meets moisture.

The good news is we still have months to wait for this potential weather fun since the sun is still baking us as of this writing. See the entire Farmer's Almanac prediction for winter for more details and warnings about what might be coming for us.