It is safe to say that everyone is looking forward to the spring and summer in 2021. It has been a long hard winter living in a pandemic world.

The arrival of the highly anticipated spring and summer seasons as well as the COVID 19 vaccine certainly provides a light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

The extra bonus would be seasonal or above seasonal weather to enjoy during the spring and summer too.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac has been predicting the weather for over 200 years and some people swear by it. It certainly cannot hurt to look at its predictions for 2021.

Jack Burnett, the Managing Editor of the Old Farmer’s Almanac provides a brief history for those who do not know what it is all about.

“The Old Farmer’s Almanac is the oldest continuously published periodical in North America.” It was started in 1792 just outside of Boston by a fellow named Robert B. Thomas.

Burnett describes it as, “The Google of its day. Now we google something, but there was not google back then but in the Farmer’s Almanac you could find all kinds of cool things like when the post office was going to be open in certain cities. Or what the stagecoach routes were going to be. Or how to patch a hole in a tree weird kind stuff but useful things too.” So, Thomas’s goal was to be “useful with a pleasant degree of humour.” Burnett says that is what they try to be today.

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, this is what we can expect for the spring and summer of 2021 in the Cochrane region.

“April and May will be warmer and drier than normal. Summer will be hotter than normal, with the hottest periods in late July and mid-August. Rainfall will be below normal in the east and above normal in the west. September and October will be warmer than normal, with below-normal precipitation.”

Burnett says that there are many from our area that subscribe to the published periodical and visit the Old Farmer's Almanac website.

According to the Almanac, they say it has an 80% accuracy rate when it comes to forecasting the weather. Some meteorologists would argue that rate.

However, when you have been around as long as the Old Farmer’s Almanac you can rely on longevity as much as science, and a little folklore doesn’t hurt either.

One thing is for sure that it has been more accurate than the groundhog predictions.

Since it is forecasting a pleasant spring and summer then it is a glimmer of hope in what has been a very trying year.

Accuracy is not everything but hope certainly is.

So Cochranites, take heart in knowing that the Old Farmer’s Almanac forecast is, as Jack Burnett would say, “…looking really, really good for the area over the next few months.”

Now that is good news!