The Farmers' Almanac

Bob Hartig

Bob Hartig

EF5
Joined
Jul 2, 2004
Messages
1,781
Location
Hastings, Michigan
Yesterday, for lack of anything substantive to blog about, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek post titled The Farmers' Alamanc, Woolly Bears, and Government Cover-Ups (which I'm shamelessly plugging here for those who could use a grin).

While I was poking gentle fun at the FA's nigh-miraculous long-range forecasting wizardry, writing the article got me to thinking: where do they get their information from? I'm pretty certain that the weather sages at Farmers' Almanac aren't consulting woolly bear caterpillars, but have some reasonable grounds for making their predictions, no doubt based on global climatology and oceanography.

So, my question: how does the Farmers' Almanac come up with its forecasts for two months out and longer? Anyone know?
 
I saw Woolly Bears on three different occasions last week, each had much more brown than black. According to legend this indicates a mild winter is on the way.
 
rdale said:
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather/a/how-does-the-farmers-almanac-make-its-weather-predictions

I captured their October/November forecast for the Great Lakes on September 30th. October was supposed to be a mild with near-drought conditions through Michigan. It's been very cold and very wet.
Click to expand...

Ahhh...a secret formula dating back to 1818! With sunspots and other astronomical goodies in the mix, no less. I knew it had to be something like that. Kind of a Kentucky Fried Chicken, eleven-secret-herbs-and-spices approach, with a little eye of newt thrown in for good measure.

Thanks for the link, rdale. Though I'm kind of disappointed--I honestly was hoping for something more forthright from the Almanac. Guess I'll stick with the woolly bears. Since it's merely a numbers game, they're probably just as dependable.
 
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