Fall has arrived and Iowans who’ve already picked up the latest edition of the Farmer’s Almanac may be stocking up on sweaters and firewood, according to senior editor Mary Ann Jarvula, who says Iowa’s “in for it.”The Almanac predicts a lot of snow early on, then record cold around Christmastime, then more snow in February and even flurries into April. Jarvula also says we can expect a short spring and then another long, hot summer. While some people knock the Almanac, Jarvula says they have a good track record, one that’s better than the National Weather Service for long-range forecasting.Jarvula says the Almanac has an across-the-board accuracy rating of about 70-percent, which beats the “other guys” by a good stretch. She says the N-W-S is only accurate about 56-percent accurate and their forecasts are done 45-days in advance while the Almanac’s forecasts are done 18-months in advance. She says the book that’s out now was underway long ago. The Almanac is the oldest continuously published periodical in North America, since 1792.
