"Farmers' Almanac" predicts a "bitterly cold" winter

[Wingy]

Its getting to be that time of year when we say good bye to the warm temps and have to start thinking of winter. How to keep your feathered friends warm and draft free needs to be part of your home winterizing rituals. After reading the article below I moved Jakes thermal perch from the shelf where evil bird toys are to his cage in hopes that he will accept it by the time the cold sets in. If I wait until its needed he won't have enough time give it the close up stink eye as opposed to the far away stink eye.

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57600023/farmers-almanac-predicts-a-bitterly-cold-winter/

The Farmers' Almanac is using words like "piercing cold," "bitterly cold" and "biting cold" to describe the upcoming winter. And if its predictions are right, the first outdoor Super Bowl in years will be a messy "Storm Bowl."

 

The 197-year-old publication that hits newsstands Monday predicts a winter storm will hit the Northeast around the time the Super Bowl is played at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. It also predicts a colder-than-normal winter for two-thirds of the country and heavy snowfall in the Midwest, Great Lakes and New England.

 

"We're using a very strong four-letter word to describe this winter, which is C-O-L-D. It's going to be very cold," said Sandi Duncan, managing editor.

 

Based on planetary positions, sunspots and lunar cycles, the almanac's secret formula is largely unchanged since founder David Young published the first almanac in 1818.

 

Modern scientists don't put much stock in sunspots or tidal action, but the almanac says its forecasts used by readers to plan weddings and plant gardens are correct about 80 percent of the time.

 

Last year, the forecast called for cold weather for the eastern and central U.S. with milder temperatures west of the Great Lakes. It started just the opposite but ended up that way.

 

Caleb Weatherbee, the publication's elusive prognosticator, said he was off by only a couple of days on two of the season's biggest storms: a February blizzard that paralyzed the Northeast with 3 feet of snow in some places and a sloppy storm the day before spring's arrival that buried parts of New England.

 

Readers who put stock in the almanac's forecasts may do well to stock up on long johns, especially if they're lucky enough to get tickets to the Super Bowl on Feb. 2. The first Super Bowl held outdoors in a cold-weather environment could be both super cold and super messy, with a big storm due Feb. 1 to 3, the almanac says.

 

Said Duncan: "It really looks like the Super Bowl may be the Storm Bowl."

[Timbersmom]

Oh yuck! I sure hope it isn't a bitterly cold winter. We have had an amazingly mild summer in our neck of the woods though. Good advice to be prepared.

[VStar Mama]

Well, no one really like cold winters....but one benefit of a very cold winter is a smaller mosquito population the following spring and summer.....

[Luvparrots]

As long has there is no snow/ice. I'm okay with the cold. House is cozy. If it looks like snow/ice, I stock up on food goods and stay in.

[danmcq]

Good idea on moving the thermal perch so he gets used to it. I hope it's a really wet winter here in California. We need a lot of rain in the valley and snow in the mountains. It's been drought like conditions here for the last 3 or 4 years and the huge fires roaring presently are due to this drought.

[Greywings]

Desperately needing rain here in Texas as well. At the Sanctuary we wrap the aviaries to keep the wind and precipitation out. The old infirm birds or naked birds are brought inside for Winter. On the Gulf Coast Winter is not usually very long lasting or severe, I have had Roses and Iris blooming at Christmas time.

[katana600]

Well, I thought last winter was cold and harsh after getting reacquainted with lake effect snows in northwestern Pennsylvania from Georgia last year. It was about minus twelve when I drove in under white out conditions in early January. The saving grace was the wonderful wood stove heat. Once I got past the shock of having to adjust to winter driving after twenty years in warmer climates, it made me yearn for white Christmases and challenging weather, family, friends, and "home".

[judygram]

I don't care if it gets bitterly cold as long as we have some snow with it, I am stocked up on wood so we would stay warm and we have plenty of food in the house.

Some places has been very dry but we have had a wet summer, usually our grass is dry and brown this time of year but we have had to mow the grass all summer, its nice and green.

And like Vstar Mama a very cold winter kills lots of insects.

[KevinD]

Good for us in the dessert

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Jeez guys... move to Rochester, NY. It gets bitterly cold here, and snow that can bury your car! I'm already getting ready. Closed and covered the pool. If Sophie's beak is cold, the thermometer goes up! Kids complain that I tell them to put on a sweater, but if Sophie's beak is cold... heat goes up. Of course I always hear " You love Sophie more than me!" Nancy

[Wingy]

Jeez guys... move to Rochester, NY. It gets bitterly cold here, and snow that can bury your car! I'm already getting ready. Closed and covered the pool. If Sophie's beak is cold, the thermometer goes up! Kids complain that I tell them to put on a sweater, but if Sophie's beak is cold... heat goes up. Of course I always hear " You love Sophie more than me!" Nancy

 

I am getting ready here too. I have started making my "winter" shopping list because I hate trying to push a cart full of canned foods in the slop. I hunted out the window insulating kits the other day. It is a good thing I did. Some of the tape had lost its stick and I'll need a new roll.

[Greywings]

I grew up in Syracuse N.Y. so I understnd those Rochester snows. Brrrr glad I am in Texas not much Winter and it stays green all year with plants blooming and very rare freezes.

[Luvparrots]

.......... Brrrr glad I am in Texas not much Winter and it stays green all year with plants blooming and very rare freezes.

 

Where in Texas was that again friend..... (smile)

[Talon]

I hate the cold and snow. I have a generator so soon I will stock up on gas, cover the pool this weekend and wish for a longer summer

[Greywings]

Where in Texas was that again friend..... (smile)[/quote

We are out side of Houston.