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Old Farmer's Almanac: Global cooling to continue
Old Farmer's Almanac: Global cooling to continue
By RUSSELL CONTRERAS Associated Press Writer The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
DUBLIN, N.H. (AP) — Most of the country will see a colder-than-usual winter while summer and spring will be relatively cool and dry, according to the time-honored, complex calculations of the "Old Farmer's Almanac."
The 2011 issue of the almanac, which claims to be the nation's oldest continuously published periodical, was released Tuesday. It predicts that in the coming months, the Earth will continue to see a "gradual cooling of the atmosphere ... offset by any warming caused by increased greenhouse gases."
The "Old Farmer's Almanac" also is forecasting a weak La Nina — a climate phenomenon marked by an unusual cooling of the sea surface in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
Janice Stillman, editor of the almanac, said that means much of the eastern half of the United States will experience lower-than-normal temperatures with less snow while Mid-Atlantic states will see more snowfall than usual. The West will see a mild winter with average precipitation, she said.
Meanwhile, the South will experience a cold and wet summer and the Rockies should see a mild and dry winter, according to the New Hampshire-based "Old Farmer's Almanac."
"It'll be cold. There will be no mistaking winter," Stillman said. "But it may be a little shorter or we may see some small warm spells in places like the East Coast."
The 219-year-old "Old Farmer's Almanac" and its longtime competitor, the Maine-based "Farmers' Almanac," still draw droves of fans despite it being the age of the Internet and mobile phone apps. The books, which use secret formulas to predict weather based on sunspots, planetary positions and other information, are popular at farmers markets and bookstores and have maintained a fan base that sometimes spans generations of families.
Both books have a circulation of around 3.2 million and feature a mix of helpful hints, recipes, gardening tips, jokes and inspirational messages. Their websites are full of videos, blogs, podcasts, Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages.
In general, the almanacs' weather predictions are similar. The "Farmers' Almanac" predicts that it'll be cold but nothing like last winter.
"Overall, it looks like it's going to be a kinder and gentler winter, especially in the areas that had a rough winter last year," said managing editor Sandi Duncan.
But the almanacs' forecasts are at odds with the National Weather Service's long-range outlook for the meteorological winter, which runs from December through February.
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center anticipates a warmer-than-normal winter for the mid-Atlantic and Southeast and colder-than-normal weather in the Northwest. That puts it at odds with the almanac.
Ed O'Lenic from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said the scientific community doesn't accept tides, planetary alignment and sunspots as effective predictors of temperature or precipitation, but he stopped short of being critical of the almanac's meteorological methods.
Stillman said, however, she's confident about the weather predictions in the "Old Farmer's Almanac" because they tend to be 80 to 85 percent accurate — the same accuracy rate boasted by the Maine almanac.
The dueling almanacs have enjoyed a long, mostly friendly rivalry that dates back nearly 200 years, said Judson Hale, the semiretired chairman and longtime pitchman for the "Old Farmer's Almanac." He said any time one of the almanac gets publicity, it helps the other.
But Hale is quick to say his publication is older and has more history: "We're the one in the Smithsonian. We're the one that Abraham Lincoln used in a murder trial. We're the one George Washington read. We are THE one."
Still, Hale said, both almanacs survive because they've maintained strong relationships with their readers for generations.
"I think it's very comforting for people to see that there's a constant in this world," he said. "There's something that, although brand-new every year, isn't changing. It is the same."
———
Online:
www.almanac.com
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Original Article can be found at:
http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?id=16535682&ps=1011&cat=&cps=0&lang=en
© 2010 Charter. All Rights Reserved
By RUSSELL CONTRERAS Associated Press Writer The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
DUBLIN, N.H. (AP) — Most of the country will see a colder-than-usual winter while summer and spring will be relatively cool and dry, according to the time-honored, complex calculations of the "Old Farmer's Almanac."
The 2011 issue of the almanac, which claims to be the nation's oldest continuously published periodical, was released Tuesday. It predicts that in the coming months, the Earth will continue to see a "gradual cooling of the atmosphere ... offset by any warming caused by increased greenhouse gases."
The "Old Farmer's Almanac" also is forecasting a weak La Nina — a climate phenomenon marked by an unusual cooling of the sea surface in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
Janice Stillman, editor of the almanac, said that means much of the eastern half of the United States will experience lower-than-normal temperatures with less snow while Mid-Atlantic states will see more snowfall than usual. The West will see a mild winter with average precipitation, she said.
Meanwhile, the South will experience a cold and wet summer and the Rockies should see a mild and dry winter, according to the New Hampshire-based "Old Farmer's Almanac."
"It'll be cold. There will be no mistaking winter," Stillman said. "But it may be a little shorter or we may see some small warm spells in places like the East Coast."
The 219-year-old "Old Farmer's Almanac" and its longtime competitor, the Maine-based "Farmers' Almanac," still draw droves of fans despite it being the age of the Internet and mobile phone apps. The books, which use secret formulas to predict weather based on sunspots, planetary positions and other information, are popular at farmers markets and bookstores and have maintained a fan base that sometimes spans generations of families.
Both books have a circulation of around 3.2 million and feature a mix of helpful hints, recipes, gardening tips, jokes and inspirational messages. Their websites are full of videos, blogs, podcasts, Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages.
In general, the almanacs' weather predictions are similar. The "Farmers' Almanac" predicts that it'll be cold but nothing like last winter.
"Overall, it looks like it's going to be a kinder and gentler winter, especially in the areas that had a rough winter last year," said managing editor Sandi Duncan.
But the almanacs' forecasts are at odds with the National Weather Service's long-range outlook for the meteorological winter, which runs from December through February.
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center anticipates a warmer-than-normal winter for the mid-Atlantic and Southeast and colder-than-normal weather in the Northwest. That puts it at odds with the almanac.
Ed O'Lenic from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said the scientific community doesn't accept tides, planetary alignment and sunspots as effective predictors of temperature or precipitation, but he stopped short of being critical of the almanac's meteorological methods.
Stillman said, however, she's confident about the weather predictions in the "Old Farmer's Almanac" because they tend to be 80 to 85 percent accurate — the same accuracy rate boasted by the Maine almanac.
The dueling almanacs have enjoyed a long, mostly friendly rivalry that dates back nearly 200 years, said Judson Hale, the semiretired chairman and longtime pitchman for the "Old Farmer's Almanac." He said any time one of the almanac gets publicity, it helps the other.
But Hale is quick to say his publication is older and has more history: "We're the one in the Smithsonian. We're the one that Abraham Lincoln used in a murder trial. We're the one George Washington read. We are THE one."
Still, Hale said, both almanacs survive because they've maintained strong relationships with their readers for generations.
"I think it's very comforting for people to see that there's a constant in this world," he said. "There's something that, although brand-new every year, isn't changing. It is the same."
———
Online:
www.almanac.com
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Original Article can be found at:
http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?id=16535682&ps=1011&cat=&cps=0&lang=en
© 2010 Charter. All Rights Reserved
I haven't read that particular book but it sounds interesting.
Where some of the biggest problems lie are in third world nations. The depletion of the rain forests in South American. China and India are the biggest polluters in the world. But I really think that as long as we all keep recycling (even though it really does wreak havoc on the water supply) and keep researching renewable energy sources, we are doing about all we can do without financial collapse.
I truly wish the Congress would let loose on the nuclear energy plants. They don't add to pollution and offer cheaper energy.
Where some of the biggest problems lie are in third world nations. The depletion of the rain forests in South American. China and India are the biggest polluters in the world. But I really think that as long as we all keep recycling (even though it really does wreak havoc on the water supply) and keep researching renewable energy sources, we are doing about all we can do without financial collapse.
I truly wish the Congress would let loose on the nuclear energy plants. They don't add to pollution and offer cheaper energy.
I watched a really interesting documentary on the Discovery Channel about this whole issue the other night. It also went into the collapse of civilization as we know it, and how scientists will view us hundreds of years from now (not in a very positive light..lol).
Basically what it said was this. Global climate change does happen. It has happened since the beginning of time, and will continue to. Where man made global warming comes into play is that all the pollution and toxins we are releasing into our enviroment are serving to speed things up. So far this all made perfect sense to me.
More importantly though, it talked about how we know this is happening, and so far aren't really doing much about it. I don't mean the push to recycle, etc. but more that we are destroying our water, our farmlands, etc. So even without global warming we are creating a less that hospitable enviroment for the future. So while the move to go green was probably pushed to the extreme, there is a lot to it. We are also using up oil at an alarming rate with no real plan as to how we will survive without it. There are alternatives, but they will change the way we live today. It won't be quite as simple.
I don't know if anyone has read the book Collapse. It's a bit dry, but is it ever fascinating. It talks about the rise and fall of every great civilization from the Roman Empire to the Mayans and so on. The author talks about how we are destroying our own civilization, but it doesn't have to be that way. It makes a lot of sense.
Basically what it said was this. Global climate change does happen. It has happened since the beginning of time, and will continue to. Where man made global warming comes into play is that all the pollution and toxins we are releasing into our enviroment are serving to speed things up. So far this all made perfect sense to me.
More importantly though, it talked about how we know this is happening, and so far aren't really doing much about it. I don't mean the push to recycle, etc. but more that we are destroying our water, our farmlands, etc. So even without global warming we are creating a less that hospitable enviroment for the future. So while the move to go green was probably pushed to the extreme, there is a lot to it. We are also using up oil at an alarming rate with no real plan as to how we will survive without it. There are alternatives, but they will change the way we live today. It won't be quite as simple.
I don't know if anyone has read the book Collapse. It's a bit dry, but is it ever fascinating. It talks about the rise and fall of every great civilization from the Roman Empire to the Mayans and so on. The author talks about how we are destroying our own civilization, but it doesn't have to be that way. It makes a lot of sense.
oh no we are going to be shivering this winter ...well we knew man made global warming was a load of crock and folks were just getting rich with all that 'green' stuff..Gore did very well out of it and a nobel prize to boot...aswell as his 9 million dollar mansion,is he one of the fat cats OBama talks about, now perhaps he could be encouraged to redistribute it..
Clouds communicating?? That does sound interesting but certainly not out of the realm of possibility. I'd love to read that.
That's a wonderful way to put it Sara...it is a living, breathing entity. I don't believe in any of the conspiracy concepts but I do think that lack of global warming doesn't give us a free pass to abuse the earth (not saying you think it does, lol). But just because global warming isn't the threat they said it was doesn't mean we can relax our vigilance! (again not saying you disagree, just stating in general). There does seem to be proof for global cooling...all of these hurricanes actually Do cool the region. But of course it's just a natural phase, IMo.
On the note of the earth being a living entity...my husband said he heard on NPR recently that they're starting to think that clouds can communicate. not in a sentient manner, but rather like coral does....I will have to try to find an article about it. It sounded fascinating!
On the note of the earth being a living entity...my husband said he heard on NPR recently that they're starting to think that clouds can communicate. not in a sentient manner, but rather like coral does....I will have to try to find an article about it. It sounded fascinating!
I remember in college when everyone was screaming about global cooling. Had they been correct, we'd all be frozen by now. And now the same people are screaming about global warming. The earth is a living breathing thing that does go through changes.
I want clean air, clean water and nature preserved for my children and their descendants. But I'm definitely opposed to the cap and tax. And I'm also fear that the Kyoto accord will do nothing to stop pollution as the biggest polluters are exempt. Instead, it will redistribute American wealth worldwide.
But yes, we need research into renewable energy sources. And we need to do our best to keep our air and water clean. But not at the expense of bankrupting this country.
I want clean air, clean water and nature preserved for my children and their descendants. But I'm definitely opposed to the cap and tax. And I'm also fear that the Kyoto accord will do nothing to stop pollution as the biggest polluters are exempt. Instead, it will redistribute American wealth worldwide.
But yes, we need research into renewable energy sources. And we need to do our best to keep our air and water clean. But not at the expense of bankrupting this country.
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