The official first day of fall was yesterday, and here in Kansas, it was 90 degrees when I walked out of the office at 5 p.m. I was dripping sweat as my wife and I stacked a load of firewood that I’d cut Sunday and split yesterday evening, then I hopped on the mower to cut some of the still growing, very green grass. I might have even picked up a slight poison ivy rash while stacking wood. Things are still green here, and it’s unseasonably warm it seems, but it’s that time to look ahead to the winter weather forecasts and the 2017 weather outlook. A week or so back, the first copy of The Old Farmer’s Almanac 2017 came across my desk, and it’s always fun to check out their 2017 weather predictions and look ahead.
But first, it’s always fun to look back at the year in review, to the 2016 Old Farmer’s Almanac weather predictions, and see how they did. In my part of the country, they predicted a dry winter with normal temperatures, and the 2016 summer was to be hot and dry. I’d say for winter, they nailed it — we didn’t get much snow last winter and it was very mild. As far as summer goes, I think we were actually mild in terms of the heat, and it definitely wasn’t dry, especially in later summer when it typically can be very dry.
Anyways, on to the 2017 Old Farmer’s Almanac winter and summer weather predictions.
For the 2016-2017 winter, mild and dry is the weather prediction for most of the country; colder than last winter, but still above average. Much of the very most northern parts of the country could get more precipitation than normal, and it’s going to be a cold one for those folks located from North Dakota sweeping over to Maine. The majority of the west coast will see below average temperatures, with the northern half of the west coast having a wet winter, and the southern half a dry one. They predict a snowy one too, for the area from southern New England down into the Appalachian states. Florida can also expect a wet winter.
For summer 2017, The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts a cool summer for the entire country, with the exception of from the Rocky Mountains west. The entire west coast is predicted to experience a hot, wet summer, while most of the middle of the country will be cool and dry, except for down south. The entire east coast is predicted to be cool and wet, while the Ohio Valley and Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi will be cool and dry.
Other useful articles I found within the pages of The Old Farmer’s Almanac 2017 are articles titled “Dry-Farm for Tasty Tomatoes,” “A Chronological Compendium of Weather Facts, Phenomena and Forecasts with occasional bursts of mirth and mayhem” (“1938: January in Saskatchewan is so cold that cattle reportedly walk while they pee, lest icicles freeze them in place.”), and “Home Waters: Rivers That Run in the Mind.”
To check out more from The Old Farmer’s Almanac, or to get a copy, visit www.Almanac.com.
