It can’t be easy to predict the weather nearly two years in advance (accounting for the production time). Peter Geiger does regret missing Hurricane Sandy in 2012, but points to a long line of successes, including predicting hurricanes Andrew and Katrina.
How did the Farmers’ Almanac do last winter with the New England forecast? Not bad. “The way I look at it is if we call for a huge storm on March 20 and it comes on March 21st, and we predicted this two years in advance?” Geiger said. “We’re doing good.”
The 2017 Almanac had called for “very cold” between December 20-23 and predicted December 24-27 would be “unseasonably mild.” The 2018 Almanac red-flagged Jan. 20-23, Feb. 4-7 and 16-19, as well as March 1-3 and 20-23 as time frames for major coastal storms along the Atlantic seaboard. How did that match up?
PRETTY CLOSE: A blizzard that hit Maine brought a foot of snow to Portland between Jan. 4-5. The Almanac had called for a storm to sweep across Pennsylvania and New York bringing gusty winds and heavy precipitation between Jan. 4-7.
MISS: The big weather news was a 15-day cold snap that began in December and lasted until Jan. 9, when temperatures finally went above freezing. It was far from “unseasonably mild” on Dec. 27 (temperatures hovered near 10 degrees) and on Dec. 28, the cold was record-breaking.
PRETTY CLOSE: Southern Maine got half a foot of snow on Jan. 17. The Almanac had called for “heavy snow, a half-foot or more, for New England” from Jan. 20-23.
YEP: Maine did have a big snowstorm on Feb. 7 when the Almanac had called for “major nor’easter brings heavy snowfall, 1-2 feet possible” from Feb. 4-7.
NOT BAD: Remember March 2018? Nor’easter after nor’easter? The Almanac came near, calling for the first big storm to arrive March 1-3. Portland got pounded with 15.7 inches on March 7, while “snowzilla” began on March 13, bringing 2 feet to many parts of the state. On March 22, the fourth nor’easter of the month rolled through, mostly sparing but hitting Long Island, New York, hard (20 inches). Sounds just like the “major storm” the Almanac called for.
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