The Farmer's Almanac is predicting Kamloops and Okanagan residents won't have to be doing a lot of shovelling this year, as the bulk of precipitiation falling this winter is expected to be something other than snow.
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September 01, 2019 - 6:00 AM
PENTICTON - Time-honoured weather prognosticator The Farmer’s Almanac made national headlines earlier this week with its prediction for a “polar coaster” winter for much of Canada in 2019-20, but what does the venerable publication say about Kamloops and Okanagan?
Farmer’s Almanac managing editor Jack Burnett says we can expect this coming winter to be a little colder than normal, while at the same time with less snow and more precipitation of “a wetter variety.”
Burnett says the almanac is predicting precipitation to fall mostly outside of the season’s predicted cold spells, with a cooler, wetter winter, but where the two elements don’t coincide.
The almanac says the Kamloops and Okanagan can expect cold snaps around mid-December, at the beginning and end of January and at the beginning and middle of February.
The Farmer's Almanac prediciton for Kamloops and the Okanagan this winter is for some cold weather with less snow but more forms of other precipitation.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ The Farmer's Almanac
Cold weather should be a thing of the past after February.
Snow, when it does come, is expected around the end of December through the middle of January and again to start February.
The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting the most snow to fall in the first 10 days of January and February, two periods during the winter when colder weather and precipitation coincide.
“Those two periods will be the two main shots of old fashioned winter,” Burnett says.
He says unlike the rest of the country, the almanac doesn’t forecast a major winter snowstorm to hit British Columbia this year.
The Farmer’s Almanac, which has been published since 1792 when it was founded by Robert B. Thomas, claims 80 per cent accuracy in weather prediction, although Burnett says last year’s Canadian forecast was down a bit at 72 per cent.
The publication continues to use the same three factors Thomas used in 1792 to make its predictions; meteorology, climatology and solar radiation such as sunspot activity. Burnett says weather records have been gathered for decades and computer algorithms used to define weather patterns from the past that match present conditions.
“We’re tweaking forecasts to account for climate change, to keep up with the times,” Burnett says.
The 2020 version of the almanac hit bookshelves on Aug. 27. A Canadian version, which has been published since 1982, and a children’s version of the well-known publication is also available.
The latest edition of The Farmer's Alamanac went on sale Aug. 27, 2019.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ The Farmer's Almanac
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News from © iNFOnews, 2019