Climate News '2010 Old Farmer's Almanac' predicts colder winter, spring
| September 14 2009
The '2010 Old Farmer's Almanac,' which is now on store shelves, says it's going to be colder in the coming months, with more moisture for the spring.
"We're looking for colder-than-normal temperatures through most of the winter," Janice Stillman, editor of this year's edition, said.
"But, indeed as the days lengthen, the cold will strengthen, and we're looking for more wet than white before Christmas, and after that, come January - a snowstorm; February - a snowstorm; well-below normal temps, and snow right up through April, which I know will make a lot of folks happy that go skiing," she added.
At 218 years old, the 'Farmer's Almanac' is the oldest continuous published periodical in North America, and Stillman is the publication's first female editor.
"We subscribe to the mission statement put out by the founder Robert P. Thomas in 1792, and that is, 'To be useful, with a pleasant degree of humor;' we aim to make the magazine fun, for everybody, for years," she told 9NEWS 6 a.m.
Stillman says despite its skeptics, the almanac takes its weather forecasting very seriously.
"We use scientific disciplines to make our forecasts," she said. "We use solar science which is the study of the activity on the sun - in particular sun spots - which, since last January in solar cycle 24, have been few and far between."
"We use climatology which is the study of prevailing conditions over time. And through that we've noticed that when there are fewer sun spots, we have cooler than normal temperatures for a long period of time and that's what we're expecting. And we also use meteorology which is the study of the atmosphere. Traditionally, we're 80 percent accurate," she added.
More than 9 million people read the almanac annually, according to the publishers.
