Almanac is informative, diverse

Title: "The Old Farmer's 2009 Almanac," Western Edition

Editor: Janice Stillman

Publisher: Yankee Publishing

Price: $5.99

In a nutshell: When Robert B. Thomas founded "The Old Farmer's Almanac," his goal was to give accurate weather information to his readers. Based on his observations, Thomas devised a secret weather-forecasting system, traditionally said to be 80 percent accurate.

The Almanac, founded in 1792, has never missed a year of publication. The "Old" was added to the title in 1848 to differentiate itself from the competition.

Today, the editors follow Thomas' mandate "to be useful with a pleasant degree of humor."

The Almanac offers such diverse information as the weather, astronomical tables, tides, holidays, eclipses, plus "new, useful and entertaining matter," such as trends, amusement, gardening, etc. The edition received at our offices offers times and tables fitted for the Western states. It also offers calendars, special reports and special publications for sale.

The weather-forecast summary for the region, including Utah, says winter will be much colder and drier than normal, and summer will be cooler than normal. It then goes into much more detailed forecasts, including precipitation and temperatures for each month.

The publication is also online at www.almanac.com and allows users to set up the weather forecast for their particular ZIP code as well as purchase the Almanac and related products. The Almanac can be found at bookstores, newsstands, libraries and some hardware stores.