Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Farmers’ Almanac, whose annual winter forecasts traditionally have been greatly anticipated — if not safely ignored — announced Friday that after more than 200 years of publishing, the 2026 issue would be its last. In a statement posted on its site, the company, based in Lewiston, Maine, attributed the decision to “the growing financial challenges” of production and distribution in “today’s chaotic media environment.” The decision also will end more than 200 years of confusion with its more venerable rival, the Old Farmer’s Almanac, published in New Hampshire since 1792, when George Washington was president and 26 years before the Farmers’ Almanac went into business. Fans of long-range winter outlooks need not despair. In addition to NOAA and predictions by other outlets — not to mention the Groundhog — the Old Farmer’s Almanac also posts a popular, and very different, winter forecast. “We aren’t going anywhere,” managing editor Sarah Perreault said Friday. Both publications have a potpourri of features on gardening, agriculture, astronomy, and assorted other subjects, but the Old Farmer’s Almanac describes forecasts business as its “bedrock.” Asked how often she had seen a winter outlook wrongly attributed to her publication, Perreault said, “I don’t usually look.” She added that it does appear to be happening less frequently these days, and with the demise of her rival, “There will be much less confusion.” Perreault said her almanac, which is distributed in the United States and Canada, prints about 1.5 million copies. While the Farmers’ Almanac’s cover has undergone changes, the only thing that ever changes on the Old Farmer’s Almanac’s cover is the year. Perreault said the weather-forecasting techniques haven’t altered much either. “We’re basically using the same formula devised for us in 1792.” Maybe, but the website’s description of the forecast methodology contains references that weren’t household terms during the Washington administration — for example, La Niña, polar vortex, quasi-biennial oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation. The Old Farmer’s Almanac breaks down the country into 18 zones, with the entire Northeast corridor from Washington to Philly to Boston in a zone where the forecast sees below-normal snowfall and above-normal temperatures. The Farmers’ Almanac, which has fewer forecast zones, has Philly in an area that covers the entire Northeast, and has a considerably colder and snowier outlook. For what it’s worth, the consensus among the commercial weather services is that the Philadelphia region will be seeing more snow than last year’s 8.1 inches — 0.1 more than New Orleans — but less than normal, just under 2 feet. NOAA, wisely, doesn’t make guesses on snowfall.
