| The Weather in December
Better the cold blast of winter than the hot breath of a pursuing elephant.” So says an old tale, and it will be good for about half of the country to remember this as December brings lower-than-normal temperatures. | |
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Dear December Weather Watcher,
December ushers in a lot of change. We approach the end of one year with reflections on the past and hopes for the future. Along with the changing year, December brings with it a change in seasons. Winter officially begins with the solstice on December 21 at 5:23 P.M. This doesn’t mean that winter weather will wait, though.
In many regions of the country, including the Appalachians, Ohio Valley, Deep South,, Texas–Oklahoma, High Plains, and Desert Southwest, December will get winter going with temperatures 1 or 2 degrees below average. The Heartland can expect temperatures to be 5 degrees below normal, and for the Upper Midwest, the average December temperature will be 12°F, or about 4 degrees lower than normal. Didn’t put your swimsuit in storage yet, did you?
In other regions of the country, like the Southeast, Florida, Intermountain region, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, and Hawaii, The Old Farmer’s Almanac is predicting normal or above-normal temperatures by a range of 1 or 2 degrees, except in Alaska, where the average temperature is forecast to be 8 degrees above normal.
What about the Northeast, Atlantic Corridor, and Lower Lakes? My team made me promise that I wouldn’t reveal all of our secrets. I can tell you, however, that The Old Farmer’s Almanac—America’s oldest and most popular Almanac—uses a unique, age-old formula that’s traditionally 80% accurate. Our weather forecast methodology stems from a secret formula that was devised by our founder, Robert B. Thomas, in 1792.
Thomas believed that weather on Earth was influenced by sunspots, which are magnetic storms on the surface of the Sun. Notes about his formula are locked in a black box in our offices in Dublin, New Hampshire. Over the years, we have refined and enhanced this formula with state-of-the-art technology and modern scientific calculations, and last year our overall accuracy rate in forecasting the direction of temperature change from normal for the 2017–2018 winter was 83%. |
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| December’s Full Cold Moon | December’s full Moon was called the Cold Moon by the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior. The Native Americans kept track of the seasons by giving a distinctive name to each recurring full Moon. December’s full Moon is also called the Long Nights Moon because nights at this time of year were (and are) the longest. This year, the full Moon rises on the 22nd and will be 95% full on Christmas Eve.
Based on the Moon’s sign and phase in December, the best days to cut your hair are December 1, 3, 29, and 30. If you’re traveling for pleasure, the 25th and 26th are ideal. | | | Did You Know? | Beware the pogonip! The word pogonip refers to frozen fog and was coined by Native Americans to describe the frozen fogs of fine ice needles that occur in the mountain valleys of the western United States and Canada. According to tradition, breathing the fog is injurious to the lungs.
Other folklore, however, alludes to calm December weather. The Halcyon days are a period of about 2 weeks of calm weather that often follows the blustery winds at autumn’s end. Ancient Greeks and Romans experienced this weather at around the time of the winter solstice, when the halcyon, or kingfisher, was thought to brood in a nest floating on the sea. The bird was said to have charmed the wind and waves so that waters were especially calm at this time.
If you want a full year of weather predictions and much more useful information, wit, and wisdom, you can get it all and a bundle of BONUSES with an Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership! |
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With an Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership, you’ll get the handsome hardcover 2019 edition of the Almanac, the full-color monthly EXTRA! digital magazine with content not found in the print edition, plus a bundle of bonuses where you’ll find out more about how we predict the weather and how accurate these predictions have been historically. With an Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership, you’ll learn more about:
- What windchill is and how quickly it can give you frostbite
- The origin and meanings of all 12 full Moon names
- How to plant crops by the Moon’s phase
- What the weather will be like for every region of the country, including temperature and precipitation
- Why the full Moon brings out “interesting” behavior
With your hardcover Old Farmer’s Almanac, your monthly EXTRA! digital magazine, and your bundle of special bonuses, you’ll always be up-to-date on everything under the Sun—and the weather for every month! |
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| HALF-PRICE Offer Now in Effect!
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Get Your Special Pass—
Access to the World's Most Beloved Almanac | | Be among the first to claim your Old Farmer's Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership—become a Charter Member today! | |
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| The "Best Value Club" is really an incredible value! | |
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| Get full access to everything under the Sun, including the Moon, weather, vegetable and flower gardening, folklore, nature, home remedies, and more —with your Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership! | Introducing The Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership! This new and exciting club is designed especially for you—and it’s packed with articles, advice, best days, facts, and fun that you cannot get anywhere else!
Your Charter Membership gives you all the elements of a true almanac—a “calendar of the heavens” and a “time capsule of the year” for 2019, plus some bonuses when you join today. More about those bonuses in a minute.
Since 1792—in fact, every day since!—The Old Farmer’s Almanac has been trusted and enjoyed by folks from all walks of life: people who grow their own food depend on the planting dates; home cooks, gardeners, and folks hungry for something quick and delicious love the recipes; just about everybody checks on the Moon phases and sunrise and set times … as well as the weather forecasts … to know what to expect on any given day, week, month, or season.
With The Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership, you’ll have content that is both useful and humorous. You’ll discover quirky facts, timeless adages and advice, amusing quotes and profound proverbs, contests, Anecdotes and Pleasantries, Best Days to do things (from fishing to weaning from planting to setting eggs, for example), and so much more!
Your Charter Membership gives you everything that you’ve come to expect and depend on in an Almanac—valuable and accurate content and advice. In fact, fulfillment of readers’ expectations has made our Almanac the best-known and most sought-after Almanac for generations.
Did you know? The Old Farmer’s Almanac is the oldest continuously published periodical in North America! We got started with this valuable content in 1792—when George Washington was president and the U.S. Post Office Department was first established . . . and we’ve been at it ever since then, for 227 years! |
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| HALF-PRICE Offer Now in Effect!
Special Charter Membership Invitation for You:
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Access to the World's Most Beloved Almanac | | Be among the first to claim your Old Farmer's Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership—become a Charter Member today! | |
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| The "Best Value Club" is really an incredible value! | |
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People always ask how and why our Almanac has lasted—and continues to be a best seller. The answer is simple: We stay true to the original mission of founder Robert B. Thomas, who declared in an early edition, “Our main endeavor is to be useful, with a pleasant degree of humor.”
We believe that, especially in today’s trying times, finding humor and enjoyment in daily life is important and can be uplifting, and we hope you like our light-hearted fun and find the joy in chuckling at our witty and inspiring words.
This will make you smile, too: Every edition of The Old Farmer’s Almanac is fresh, new, and designed to make the year one of the best ever. How do we do that? With entertaining and informative articles. For example: | | Want to know about the most fun and fascinating trends for 2019? Here’s a hint: We’ll be exercising in the grocery stores, we’ll be drinking banana milk, shopping in stores with “quiet hours,” and decorating with “scratch-and-sniff” wallpaper. Are you a vegetable gardener or want to be one? Many gardeners consider the Almanac their most valuable tool, so this year, for all of you trying to grow food we’ve got foolproof advice that promises a harvest the first year and every one thereafter. Perhaps you grow flowers—or want to: In the 2019 Almanac, you’ll learn which flowers are edible, when to pick them, and how to use them (e.g., pick apple blossoms in late spring and sprinkle them onto a Waldorf salad, all summer use impatiens as a garnish). |
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But that’s just the beginning! Here’s just some of what else you’ll discover in the 2019 Almanac:
- The Faces of Farming: ambitious folks from across the country tell about how they got started, the hurdles they faced, and the rewards of working the land
- Timetables and advice for spotting meteor showers, bright stars, conjunctions, and other fascinating astronomical events
- Best days for planting, pruning, weeding, grafting, and controlling pests, plus the easiest-ever soil test (all you need is a pair of men’s clean, white, 100% cotton underwear and a small shovel)
- Daily weather forecasts for all regions of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii
- Fresh new ways to savor the asparagus, beet, corn, and cucumber harvests, with “The ABCs of Pickling”
- Easy, delicious, and Almanac prize-winning recipes using oranges
- "Adventures in the Zodiac Zone"—what’s behind the Sun and Moon?
- A look back at "The Day the Sun Exploded"—and a look forward to how it could happen again
- The “full” explanation of if and why more strange things happen during a full Moon than at other times.
- Facts, folklore, and traditions in “Telling the Bees”—Did you know that beekeepers often invite their bees to weddings?
- Thinking of getting a pig, a cow, a goat, or maybe chickens? Or know someone who is? You do not want to miss “The Pros and Cons of Backyard Livestock.”
- Why a Dog May be Your Best Medicine—and your child’s, too!
- The Story of Baseball’s Most Amazin' Season, with the “Miracle Mets”
- "How to Make Sausage at Home"- It’s easier than you think, especially if you make patties instead of links
- All this and too much more to mention for 288 pages of riveting content!
Plus, the Almanac’s easy-to-follow charts, maps, and photos bring it all to life for you—making it all easy to understand and use. |
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| HALF-PRICE Offer Now in Effect!
Special Charter Membership Invitation for You:
Introducing The Old Farmer's Almanac Best Value Club! |
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Get Your Special Pass—
Access to the World's Most Beloved Almanac | | Be among the first to claim your Old Farmer's Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership—become a Charter Member today! | |
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| The "Best Value Club" is really an incredible value! | |
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| An Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership will deliver exciting rewards for you—and for a special introductory rate, HALF-OFF right now, to all new Charter Members. | When you join today, you’ll ensure that you get the latest details about Almanac events and forecasts—and you’ll enjoy all these benefits: - Your best garden ever—Almanac gardening advice, planting dates, time-saving tips, and detailed guidance from experts will get you growing like never before.
- You’ll know in advance about every important astronomical event in 2019—when they’re happening, where in the sky, and the details and delights of each one.
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- You’ll save time and money when you follow all the practical advice and tips that we deliver to you about everything from gardening to food preparation and cooking.
- You’ll be a weather expert in your family and circle of friends—no one else you know will have the detailed knowledge about forecasting and weather that you’ll have . . . and for every region of the country!
How can you not consider becoming an Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Member? | | What you’ll get with an Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership. | When you claim your Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership today, your Charter membership will include:
- The Old Farmer’s 2019 Almanac—Hot off the press, the hard-copy version will be shipped to you right away with everything you’ve come to expect from the world’s premier almanac.
- Bonus #1: The Old Farmer’s Almanac 2019 Gardening Wall Calendar. Lovely to look at, fun to use! Each month features a beautiful full-color original illustration of seasonal plant or animal life, as well as timeless gardening secrets and advice, folklore, fun facts, and holidays—plus Moon phases to help you use the “Planting by the Moon” chart and have your best garden ever!
- Bonus #2: The Old Farmer’s Almanac 1819 edition— A printed version will be shipped to you with your order. Take a trip down memory lane and see what one of our early Almanacs looked like! It’s a time capsule of life 200 years ago!
- Bonus #3: The Old Farmer’s Almanac 1919 edition—A printed version will be shipped to you with your order. Another classic Almanac, this takes you back a century: Compare the content then and now!
- Bonus #4: The Old Farmer’s Almanac EXTRA! —A treasure trove of digital updates and Almanac content not found in the printed edition, including audio and video multimedia content. EXTRA! is far more interactive and fun than plain printed pages!
And all of this is available to you—right now—when you claim your Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership.
What are you waiting for? Half-off this Charter Membership offer is in effect for you right now!
No other Almanac has so many fun and fascinating facts, timely and accurate events and predictions, and topical and useful articles all in one place for your easy access and use—and covering more regions of North America than any other almanac or resource! |
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| HALF-PRICE Offer Now in Effect!
Special Charter Membership Invitation for You:
Introducing The Old Farmer's Almanac Best Value Club! |
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Get Your Special Pass—
Access to the World's Most Beloved Almanac | | Be among the first to claim your Old Farmer's Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership—become a Charter Member today! | |
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| The "Best Value Club" is really an incredible value! | |
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| Why not join right now? | Gardeners, weather and sky watchers, and nature lovers everywhere have been enjoying The Old Farmer’s Almanac for generations, and now it’s easier than ever for YOU to experience it all with an Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership.
When we created this new club for folks like you, we wanted to make it easy to use, easy to order, and packed with content and value—that’s why we named it the “Best Value Club”! The Almanac is the ultimate resource for gardening, astronomy, folklore, nature, and more, and now it can be all yours with your Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership. |
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HALF-PRICE Introductory Offer is Now in Effect!
Special limited-time Charter Membership offer for you right now!
When you respond today, you’ll be among a select group of Almanac friends to take advantage of this special Charter Membership offer.
Activate your Charter Membership in The Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club today, and you’ll get access to unique almanac content that you can’t find anywhere else—plus four bonuses!
Join other weather and astronomy watchers, gardeners, nature and food lovers, and trivia fans—for half-off when you respond today!
This is a limited-time offer that you should take advantage of right now. |
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Why not be among the first—gardeners in your neighborhood; weather and astronomy watchers under the Sun; cooks in your community; trivia fans in your circle; nature-lovers in your area—to join us today and benefit from all the valuable Almanac information that you simply cannot get anywhere else?
Become an Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club Charter Member today—while this special HALF-PRICE offer lasts!
Sincerely,
Janice Stillman
Editor, The Old Farmer’s Almanac
P.S. You should act today to claim your Charter Membership in The Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Value Club—while 2019 copies of the Almanac are still fresh . . . and to get your bonuses, too! |
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| HALF-PRICE Offer Now in Effect!
Special Charter Membership Invitation for You:
Introducing The Old Farmer's Almanac Best Value Club! |
|
Get Your Special Pass—
Access to the World's Most Beloved Almanac | | Be among the first to claim your Old Farmer's Almanac Best Value Club Charter Membership—become a Charter Member today! | |
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| The "Best Value Club" is really an incredible value! | |
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