Autumn has firmly arrived, and with temperatures dropping and leaves turning brown, attention is turning to how cold this winter will be. According to the Farmers' Almanac, signs in nature—including one that may already be in your home—could point to a particularly harsh season ahead.
Last winter was not among the coldest on record, but the Met Office said it was one of the wettest. In their assessment of winter 2025, covering January and February 2026, they noted above-average temperatures and rainfall for the UK overall, with notable regional variation. The weather was unsettled, with four named storms and a strong jet stream and blocking high over Scandinavia causing extended spells of wet weather for some areas.
Last winter's record rainfall
December was very unsettled in its first three weeks. January began with cold and wintry weather, as Storm Goretti brought widespread snow to Wales, the South Pennines and parts of the West Midlands, along with damaging winds to Cornwall. The month then turned wet and unsettled, with two more named storms, Ingrid and Chandra, bringing heavy rain and strong winds. Cornwall and County Down saw their wettest Januarys on record. February continued the wet conditions, with unsettled weather, persistent rain, and temperatures around average.
Overall, the UK recorded 113% of average winter rainfall. England had its eighth wettest winter on record in a series from 1836, Northern Ireland its ninth wettest, and Southern England its fourth wettest. In contrast, Scotland had a dry winter with only 86% of average rainfall, with the northeast seeing very high totals while the west was unusually dry. Last year also saw England experience its warmest winter since records began in 1884.
Signs of a cold winter in your home
According to the Farmers' Almanac, the answer to what this winter holds could be lurking inside our own homes. The historic publication, founded in 1818, is used to forecast weather months ahead, as well as providing the best days for planting or fishing, folklore, recipes and home remedies.
The Farmers' Almanac suggests natural indicators point towards a particularly brutal winter ahead, one of which is spotting greater numbers of spiders in your home or noticing webs that are larger than usual. Despite this, experts maintain that the eight-legged creatures are actually present in our homes throughout the entire year, only becoming more noticeable once the temperature begins to drop.
Geoff Oxford of the British Arachnological Society said in 2012: "It is unlikely that the large specimens we see in our houses in autumn have come in from outside, as is commonly assumed. They will have spent their entire lives in our company without us being aware of it." Rob Crawford, from the Seattle Burk Museum, offered an alternative explanation: "House spiders colonize new houses by egg sacs carried on furniture, building materials and so forth. They usually spend their entire life cycle in, on or under their native building. If a large number appear at a specific season, it is usually late summer (August and September)—not a notably cold time of year!—rather than fall, and their appearance coincides with the mating season of the given species. What you are seeing is sexually mature males wandering in search of mates."
Other natural signs to watch for
The Farmers' Almanac lists several other signs that could indicate a cold winter: thicker than normal onion skins or corn husks, woodpeckers sharing a tree, early arrival of the Snowy Owl, early arrival of crickets in the hearth, early departure of geese and ducks, early migration of the Monarch butterfly, tick hair on the nape of a cow's neck, heavy and regular fog during August, mice chewing to get into your home, pigs gathering sticks, ants marching in a line, early seclusion of bees into a hive, more acorns than usual, squirrels gathering nuts early, and halos around the sun or the moon.
