I see icy people

There was a radio show that became a movie and also a television show back in the black and white TV days. It was called "My Friend Irma," and as I write this a few nights ago, we are hoping that Tropical Storm Irma will be our friend and take a hard right turn out to sea.

Weather prognostication is a chancy business, and quite honestly, not even the best of science can be sure of a forecast that's more than 2 days out.  And even then...

Cantore

But still, we cling to our old ways and rush out to believe whatever forecast that seems to suit our needs. Wizened woodsy types will tell you that when the wooly caterpillar seems to be wearing two coats by Veterans' Day, watch for a cold winter.  And when the squirrels build their nests high in the trees, that's another sign.  And when Jim Cantore parks his car down at the end of your street and gets out with all sorts of suitcases and equipment boxes, that's the most sure sign of all.

Many people cling to the hoary* old Farmers' Almanac, who has already published their weather forecast for this coming winter, which we shall call 2018. And based on their "formula," Maryland is in for "above-normal" precipitation this winter, and that means a "cold-and-snowy" winter.

And then, to use the currently popular expression that we hear 27 times a day, the Farmer's Almanac "doubles down" on its prediction. Not just "snowy" weather for us is in the offing, but "a good amount" of what many here call "White Hell."

Speaking of colors, you might want to get your red pencil out if you got your 2018 calendar from the Purple Heart and mark down these dates:  January 20-23, February 4-7 & 16-19, and March 1-3 & 20-23. Those are days in which the eastern seaboard can expect heavy snow. 

The National Weather Service has not had the time to issue their long-range forecast (being as busy as they are with hurricanes), and you would probably have no success going office to office within the weather office asking for a copy of the Farmer's Almanac.  These are people of science, people who have no truck with publications that also offer hemorrhoid remedies, hints for growing massive sweet potatoes, and 9 New Facts about Franklin Pierce.

I like the almanacs, and read four or five of them every year, but I like them for the moon phase timetables and, yes, the articles, not for the forecast at all. I can get that from any local station, or the Weather Channel.  But if you wish, here is a link to the Farmer's Almanac forecast.  I hope they are right!

Hoarfrost

* I used "hoary" here in its secondary sense (old and trite.) It came to me to tie it into words about weather because of the word "hoarfrost," meaning grayish white cobwebby frost.

That's something I learned in the Farmer's Almanac, circa 1963.