I'm going to use a non-technical way of predicting the weather, I'm going by my hazelnut tree. Whenever the hazelnuts are ready early, winter is mild with only one or two cold snaps, when they are ready to eat late, we get a cold winter with some decent snowfall. This year my nuts are late, so it is looking good. So the August Nut Index says yes to snow, all we need now is the October Fog Index to come on board this autumn.