Pat Shingleton for Feb. 6, 2009

• By PAT SHINGLETON
• WBRZ Chief Forecaster
• Published: Feb 6, 2009 - Page: 8B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The Old Farmer’s Almanac provides weather forecasts for 16 regions of the U.S., claiming an 80 percent accuracy rate. Six years ago, Nick Bond, a researcher at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab in Seattle, thought the almanac was bunk. As noted in a previous Weather News article, Bond examined 13 years of data from the Pacific Northwest and compared it to the almanac’s predictions. His research found the almanac’s forecasts had the same odds as flipping a coin. The group publisher for the Old Farmer’s Almanac, John Pierce, stood by the 80 percent accuracy status. The forecast formula for the almanac is locked in a metal box in Dublin, N.H., home of the almanac.

Fastcast: Springlike.

Mostly sunny, with a high near 70. Southerly winds between 5 mph and 10 mph. Tonight: Patchy fog after 3 a.m. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 49. Southerly winds around 10 mph.