The Winter Forecast
Track the Chilly Season with Powerful Tools of Science and Prophecy

It’s only fall, but the folks at Compact Equipment have snow on the brain. We reside in northern Ohio’s Snow Belt, so buying plows, winterizing equipment and outfitting for the cold is an annual fall tradition (like pumpkin chunking and football keggers). Thumb through this issue and you’ll find excellent advice for preparing both your winter construction operations (“Working in a Winter Wonderland” on page 28) and snow removal projects (“Snowplow Samurai” on page 22).

And to top it all off, we’ve got great news for snow contractors who capitalize on the winter season for added work and extra income. This winter looks especially icky, at least according to the predictive powers of the 2007 Farmers’ Almanac. Calculating with a proprietary formula that considers factors such as sunspots, moon phases and other astronomical and atmospheric signs, the latest edition of the weather bible foresees frigid temperatures, as much as 20 degrees below seasonal norms (and nearly 40 degrees colder than last winter), in store for Montana, the Dakotas and parts of Wyoming in 2006/2007. Not to be left out of the cold, the Gulf Coast, up through New England, can also expect what the editors are calling “shivery” conditions.

“Snow, and lots of it, is also forecast for the nation’s midsection, parts of New England and the mountains of the Pacific Northwest,” reveals Sandi Duncan, managing editor of the Farmers’ Almanac. “The Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley may be the only area spared the extreme cold. But this is not to say this area won’t be without its cold spells and significant snowfalls.”

Snow is perhaps the most challenging forecasting formula for anyone. Science folks have trouble not only predicting when snow will fall, but measuring how much has fallen, so a little farmer’s fortunetelling can’t hurt, right?

“We do use a very mathematical and astronomical formula for predicting our weather, and people who follow our forecasts say they’re right 80 to 85 percent of the time,” says Duncan. “We missed Hurricane Katrina by four days and did call for a warm summer with frequently heavy thundershowers this year.”

The public needs accurate snow forecasts at least a day in advance in order to plan (or cancel) car or plane trips, as well as get snow removal equipment into position. For people who prefer the scientific telepathy of our meteorologists, The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce) and the National Weather Service are great places to keep your eye on the storm — at www.nws.noaa.gov. The NOAA’s National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (www.nohrsc.nws.gov) provides comprehensive snow observations, analysis, data sets and map products for the nation, including airborne snow surveys, satellite snow cover mapping, snow modeling and sweet visualization tools that will keep you up to date on the latest snow predictions from the nation’s best weather experts.

Keith Gribbins
Managing Editor
kgribbins@benjaminmedia.com

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