Why the Farmer’s Almanac Is About as Accurate as a Coin Flip



The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a cold and snowy winter for most of the U.S., but how accurate is the Farmer’s Almanac? It says it can predict the weather with about 80% accuracy, but studies have shown that its predictions are about 52% accurate — essentially as accurate as random chance. There’s also its competitor — the Old Farmer’s Almanac — which says it uses a “secret formula” to predict the weather. The founder of the Old Farmer’s Almanac, Robert B. Thomas, believed that weather on earth was influenced by sunspots, which are magnetic storms on the surface of the sun. It has allegedly been updated since it was created in 1792, but there’s no telling how scientific it is. At best, it has a questionable amount of actual science. Meanwhile, there’s legitimate science out there for predicting the weather, but many experts agree that it’s impossible to provide an accurate weather forecast beyond a week. Others say anything beyond two days out is nothing more than mere speculation.