If mentioning the onslaught of snow and cold during the “dog days of summer” seems unnecessarily cruel, I apologize. I suppose it’s not unlike taunting your kids about going back to school while they’re splashing in the pool.
Think of this as a friendly reminder to wrap up those fiber deployment projects before the ground turns to stone, and winter settles in with all its baggage (and with no idea of when it will be moving out).
After last winter’s brutal “Polar Vortex,” one would assume that this winter would be predictably milder. Not so, according to a recent announcement from The Farmers' Almanac.
According to this compact compendium, which provides 16 months of meteorological forecasts with surprising accuracy, we are in for another bitterly cold winter with above-normal snowfall. It sounds like it’s going to be a wild ride, again. That’s why some are re-labelling the “Polar Vortex” to the “Polar Coaster.”
The Farmers’ Almanac is predicting:
- The worst of the bitterly cold winter conditions will affect areas east of the Rockies all the way to the Appalachians.
- The most freefalling, frigid temperatures are forecasted to take hold from the northern Plains into the Great Lakes.
- Above-normal winter precipitation is expected over the eastern third of the country as well as the Great Plains, Midwest, and the Great Lakes.
- The coldest outbreak of the season should arrive during the final week of January and last through the beginning of February.
- Spring will be slow to start with winter lingering across the Midwest, Great Lakes, Northeast, and New England.
- Occasional wet snow and unseasonably chilly conditions will hang on until April.
Again, I apologize if this harbinger of winter weather is casting a pall on your final days of summer. That wasn’t my intention.
But, as they say, we can only truly appreciate the highs if we experience the lows, right?
PS – When reporting the Almanac’s predictions, Country Living magazine also cited a number of rough-winter forecasters according to folk lore. Some of my favorites are:
- Woodpeckers sharing a tree
- The early arrival of crickets on the hearth
- Thick hair on the nape of a cow’s neck.
- Ants marching in a line rather than meandering
- Pigs gathering sticks.
For the full list, go to https://www.countryliving.com/life/travel/a28722622/farmers-almanac-winter-2019-2020-predictions/
By Cheri Beranek
A founding member of Clearfield, Inc., Cheri Beranek is considered a communications visionary. Her extensive leadership experience and unique management style combined deliver outstanding corporate performance.
Under her direction, Clearfield has recorded 10 consecutive years of profitability and posted historic gains in both the market capitalization and shareholder equity. Today, Clearfield is a multinational business with more than 250 employees and over 700 customers.