The 2015 Old Farmer’s Almanac is out with its recipes, charts for ocean tides and, of course, predictions about the weather. The Midwestern winter is pegged as “bitter and snowy.”
The Almanac’s forecast for the “heartland” indicates “winter temperatures, precipitation, and snowfall all will be below normal.” It also predicts cold snaps are ahead in early and mid- to late December and early and mid-January. The summer of 2015 in Iowa “will be hotter and slightly drier than normal,” according to the Almanac’s forecast.
The Old Farmers Almanac was first published in 1792 and its weather predictions are based, in part, on a “secret formula” devised by the Almanac’s founder. The updated formula takes into account temperature and precipitation records for the past 30 years, but also measures current sunspot activity.
The Almanac has suggestions for the best days to go fishing and which dates are best to plant the garden, advice based on phases of the moon.