Weather in St. George? Farmers’ Almanac says more rain until mid-September

My Dad was a TV weatherman for a long time. I found out by watching him that forecasting the weather was not simply using a computer model and regurgitating numbers.

True weathermen use a combination of satellite imagery, computer models, historical trends and myriad other tools to make an educated guess about what the weather would be like.

One of these tools (or rather two of these tools) is the Farmers' Almanac. Or is it The Old Farmers' Almanac?

Well actually, both.

The two separate publications (see the comparison here) boast better than 80 percent accuracy when predicting the weather. Farmers swear by it. Others swear at it.

From Google: The Farmers' Almanac's Web site explains that its forecaster (Caleb Weatherbee) uses a "top secret mathematical and astronomical formula, that relies on sunspot activity, tidal action, planetary position and many other factors" to predict weather.

But for what it's worth, the two almanacs agree that our multi-year drought may be closer to being over. The predictions for our area over the next five weeks are encouraging, unless you want to hold a BBQ anytime soon.

For late August, Washington County shows

• 24^th - 27^th
  
  Thunderstorms, heavy-to-severe activity.
• 28^th - 31^st
  
  Fair and tranquil.

Then, September looks pretty unsettled. According to the Almanac:

• 1^st - 3^rd
  
  Showery, followed by improving weather.
• 4^th - 7^th
  
  Fair weather deteriorates into unsettled conditions.
• 8^th - 11^th
  
  Tranquil weather.
• 12^th - 15^th
  
  Mostly fair initially, then unsettled weather spreads east from the CA coast to the by the 15th.
• 16^th - 19^th
  
  Pleasant weather.
• 20^th - 23^rd
  
  Unsettled again.

So with all the talk about water and drought, it's clear that we need to conserve and take stewardship over our beautiful desert. But we also seem to be headed for a wetter time here in Southern Utah.

Let it rain, baby. Let it rain.