The Old Farmer's Almanac

Hi Puzzlers,

Today I would like to tell you about America’s oldest continuously published annual, The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Now, I’m not what you would call an “Almanacian”, okay I made that word up, but what I meant to say is I am not well versed on almanacs, other than knowing it is a book that can predict the weather months in advance. And, I do confess to once using it for planning an outdoor event under a tent that had to have great weather. It worked for me! The weather was perfect as predicted.

The first issue of The Old Farmer’s Almanac was published in 1792 under the watchful eye of its editor, Robert B. Thomas. It became an instant success, out selling several other almanacs published that same year. By the second year, The Old Farmer’s Almanac circulation had tripled from 3,000 to 9,000.

“An almanac, by definition, records and predicts astronomical events (the rising and setting of the Sun, for instance), tides, weather, and other phenomena with respect to time. So what made The Old Farmer's Almanac different from the others? Since his format wasn't novel, we can only surmise that Thomas's astronomical and weather predictions were more accurate, the advice more useful, and the features more entertaining.”

Thomas would predict the weather with an astounding 80% accuracy. He devised a secret formula made from observations of natural cycles. His secret formula is still used today and is safely stored in a protective black tin box in Dublin, New Hampshire, home of the Almanac’s offices.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac was so revered and trusted that it was once used by a young lawyer named Abraham Lincoln to clear a man of murder. The witness claimed to have seen the man by moon light, but according to the almanac there was no moon that night.

The almanac almost became the laughing stock of the community in 1816. The months of January and February were inadvertently transposed with the months of July and August, thus calling for SNOW that summer. When the error was discovered Thomas scrambled to destroy all copies of the almanac but could not. Little did Thomas know that the super-colossal eruption of Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa Indonesia in April of 1815 would cause temperatures globally to drop 3-4 degrees. This decrease in temperature would make the year of 1816 a year without a summer. And, it did snow in July and August saving the reputation of The Old Farmer’s Almanac. WOW! Divine intervention at its best!

Happy Puzzling!