The old adage that if March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb notwithstanding, The Farmers Almanac is forecasting Highland County and the Midwest may have to shovel out from another winter storm later in the month.
By its own admission, The Farmers’ Almanac has sported a 75 to 80 percent accuracy rate for weather forecasting, and so far this winter, readers say it was spot-on in predicting the two major February snowstorms that hit the nation.
If what appears on page 63 of the publication is to be believed, Highland County and the entire eastern half of the country could be in store for another round of significant snowfall in late March.
Peter Geiger, editor of the 204th edition of The Farmers’ Almanac, told The Times-Gazette he thought it had done very well in predicting the weather so far this winter.
“Regrettably as it’s been in Texas and other places around the country, I think we pretty much called for this particular winter the way it’s turned out,” Geiger said. “And we’re looking at something very significant coming up in March for Ohio and the eastern part of the country.”
The almanac called for possible blizzard conditions in the Mid-Atlantic and Northwest coastal plain regions for the second week of February, with some major cities forecasted to get up to two feet of snow.
Another storm was forecasted by the publication for the third week of February for the Southern Plains states, which would bring “copious amounts of snow, sleet and rain.”
“We anticipate another for much of the eastern half of the country during the final week of March,” the almanac stated. “This storm will track from the nation’s midsection to central New England, and bring a significant late season snowfall to the north of its track, and showers and thunderstorms to the south.”
Since 1818, the Farmers’ Almanac has amused, educated and informed readers with its weather predictions So far this winter, the publication has been dead-on in terms of predicting the recent snowstorms.
Last year, it called the winter season “The Polar Coaster,” while this winter has been referred to as “The Winter of the Great Divide.”
“I think this year’s almanac got the winter in the bigger picture, and I feel like we nailed most of the storms,” Geiger said. “The fact that we do this two years in advance is still pretty incredible.”
The almanac’s weather predictions for this year were put together in 2018, and what is being formulated at the present time will be unveiled in the 2023 edition.
Geiger described the publication’s process of putting together the annual weather predictions as a mathematical formula that was developed in the early 1800s by the almanac’s first editor, David Young, who was a mathematician, poet and astronomer.
Geiger said the formula took into consideration sun spot activity, positions of the planets and the effect that the moon has upon the earth.
He said Young’s original intention was to develop an almanac for farmers in New Jersey, and that over the years it grew to include all of North America through the efforts of seven weather prognosticators over the last two centuries.
The weather forecast for the remainder of winter, and for the spring, summer and fall through the month of November 2021, in addition to good humor, amusing anecdotes, helpful hints and interesting reading can be found in the check-out aisles of stores and also online at www.FarmersAlmanac.com.
“Winter is never over until winter is over,” Geiger said. “There’s at least one and maybe two big storms in the month of March for Hillsboro and Highland County. I wouldn’t put away the shovel or the snow blower just yet, at least until April.”
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
