A Mild, Wet Winter? Old Farmer’s Almanac Predicts One for Metro Detroit

Nation’s oldest continuous annual publishes 225th edition.

Almanac Cover 2017

Detroit is on track for its warmest August on record. The National Weather Service says the average daily temperature of 77.3 degrees Fahrenheit this month is almost five degrees warmer than normal. Last year, the Old Farmer’s Almanac predicted a hot, dry summer for the lower Great Lakes region, and so far its forecast has been correct. Tim Clark has worked for the almanac for about 40 years. He tells WDET’s Pat Batcheller the publication’s weather predictions are based on sunspot cycles, a method he says is centuries old. 

“We’ve known about this for about 400 years, since Galileo first observed sunspots on the surface of the sun,” Clark says. 

The 225th edition of the Old Farmer’s Almanac is on newsstands. It’s predicting a wet, mild winter for the lower Great Lakes in 2017. Click on the audio player to hear the conversation.

 

Pat Batcheller

 

Author

  • Pat Batcheller is a host and Senior News Editor for 101.9 WDET, presenting local news, traffic and weather updates during Morning Edition. He is an amateur musician.