The Farmers Almanac Warns Iowans Of More Snow

March 1^st marks the first day of meteorological spring, and the warm weather we are having can help convince us that spring is actually here. However, if you look at the Farmers Almanac, this might not be the case.

Sandi Duncan, the Almanac’s managing editor said in a Radio Iowa report that we shouldn’t expect to be wearing shorts and t-shirts anytime soon.

"Spring officially arrives on the calendar on March 20th, but it looks like it's going to take a little time for it to warm up," Duncan said. "However, overall, it doesn't look too extreme. We're seeing pretty much average temperatures and normal precipitation in your neck of the woods."

Instead, you might just want to keep that snow shovel and boots ready because there might be a blizzard on its way.

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"So just when everyone thinks winter is long gone, Mother Nature might throw us all a curveball," she said.

According to the Farmer’s Almanac, when the spring temperatures do settle in, we are likely to see warmer than normal temperatures in Iowa and the Midwest.

"It's going to be a little warmer in the northern half of the country -- which includes your area -- than it is in the South," she said. "So some people might refer to this spring as a backward type of spring, but overall the Farmers' Almanac is showing your area is going to have pretty much average temperatures. Starting off slightly cool, going back and forth, and the possibility of a big storm at the end of April.

Looking ahead to summer, Duncan said the upper Midwest will experience a hot summer.

These forecasts look six to six-teen months and are based on a formula that was established two centuries ago.

“It was set on a bunch of rules that we’ve altered slightly but we still consider a lot of the rules that our founding editor in 1818, we still follow them,” Duncan said. “They are rules that talk about sunspot activity, tidal action, the Moon, the position of the planets. They apply them to different weather conditions and they’ve been doing a pretty good job for us.”

The Farmers Almanac’s accuracy rate is 80-85 percent.