Comments on: Old Farmers Almanac

By: Ward Tipton

Ward Tipton — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:37:06 +0000

I remember when I was a kid it seemed like OFA was beginning to lose its touch. My Grandfather was quite impressive in many fields and I remember him lamenting their “integration” of the more “scientific” modern methods. As I recall, he seemed to remember that when he was a child, they had never missed any major storm fronts by more than a week at worst and their planting schedules helped many a farmer to increase their crop yields. While I may be prejudiced by current events, it seems that modern “science” is as much about socio-political environments as it is about actual happenings. While I understand that may not be the case in your particular line of work, it does seem to be more the norm rather than the exception any more. Still, I do remember spending some relaxing times (dare I say I actually grew up with an outhouse) with the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

By: Brian Barnes

Brian Barnes — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:31:15 +0000

That’s a good idea Vernon. I’ll have to dig around in Ft. Collins a bit and see if I can find the data, if so – I’ll spend some time putting together a 10-year “match up” between the OFA and Gray’s Team. It will at least give me something interesting to do over the long winter ahead.

By: Vernon L. Duke

Vernon L. Duke — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:01:44 +0000

I would like to see a ten year scorecard of Dr. Gray’s
CSU huricane season predictions. His team did well for 2009, but as a CSU graduate and a former 6 year Florida resident, my perception (based upon unscientific methods and a faulty memory) is that their track record would be on a par with the Old Farmer’s Alamanac. Please let me know if a long term peer review of CSU’s precictions proves me wrong.

By: Mar_sha

Mar_sha — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:30:04 +0000

I did a double-take when I looked at the solar sunspot picture. I’d have sworn it was Santa’s sleigh and the reindeer silhouetted against the sun!

I remember when I was a kid and we picked up an extra farm in the area. One time my mom came back to the main farm and my dad asked her why she was back. She told him it was raining too hard to continue on the north end of the field. He didn’t believe her until he checked it himself. Over the years we farmed that piece of property we discovered it wasn’t unusual at all for the weather to be different at one end of the farm than at the other, and it was just a half mile long.

Later I went on for schooling after high school and I could tell you within a mile where winter weather would change between home and school. Sometimes it was worse north, sometimes south of that line, but it was within that mile where it changed every time.

I never could figure out those changes. It’s flat land, no land features to cause a change.

I enjoyed your post. It triggered my own memories of OFN being at my grandparents house, and weather comments my farming dad and grandfather used to make.