Brad's Almanac provides 12 months of weather forecast for area

For more than 200 years, the Farmers' Almanac has received kudos – or at least attention – for its weather forecasts.

This will be better.

For those unfamiliar with it, the Farmers' Almanac has been published annually since 1818 and includes a mixture of information. There are tips for planting your own food, lists of natural remedies, a compendium of odd facts and more. Famously, it includes long-range weather forecasts for the United States by region.

(Farmers' Almanac, by the way, is not to be confused with Farmer's Almanac, which is Daily Republic sports editor Paul Farmer's unparalleled knowledge of local sports history.)

Publishers of the Farmers' Almanac claim its weather forecasts are 80% to 85% accurate. Outsiders say it's closer to 50%.

I can do that, particularly on a smaller level: I can forecast the weather for Fairfield-Suisun for the next 12 months with an accuracy of at least 75%.

Trust me in the same way people trust the Farmers' Almanac. Brad's Almanac (this column) is based on years of scientific observation (from living in the area) and can be relied on while planning activities for the next year. Do you want to plan an outdoor wedding in October? Should you dress warm for Christmas shopping? Will it be hot in August?

Here are the answers, with a month-by-month forecast for each of the next 12 months for Fairfield-Suisun.

May: Warming trends with occasional cooling periods. At least one heatwave. Warning: once you get used to the hot weather, a cold spell will confuse you.

June: Windy. Warm temperatures with several blustery days and nights. As it gets closer to July, residents begin to speculate on the weather for July 4. There will be no consensus on what the weather usually is like on that date.

July: Windy, but warm. At least one hot spell when residents start to wonder whether this summer is hotter than most (it's not).

August: Slightly less wind, still hot, including some extremely hot periods that end with a windy evening followed by a very windy day.

September: Still hot and more questions from residents about whether this is an unusually hot summer. Fire danger increases and experts warn that it could be a bad fire season.

October: Cooling begins, then there is a hot spell that leads to complaints ("is this hotter than usual?") and more worries about fires. When a wildfire hits, Lake Berryessa will be affected for the 100th consecutive fire season.

November: There will be smoke from a large fire somewhere nearby (or far away, but the wind will bring the smoke to Solano County). The weather turns cool and wet on either Nov. 1 (because it's the day after Halloween) or Nov. 6, the first day of standard time. 

December: Cold weather, some rain. Excited kids wonder if it's possible that there will be snow for Christmas (there won't be).

January: The lack of rain for several weeks raise concerns about a drought, but what can you do about it? Cold mornings lead residents to wonder whether this winter is colder than usual (it's not).

February: Dark. Cold. Just dark and cold. Except for one day when it will be 65 degrees and kind of sunny, which only creates a little hope before crushing it.

March: A few warm days – into the low 70s – bring optimism that spring is here. Spring arrives March 21, but it remains cool and residents will begin to wonder if it's colder than usual in March (it's not).

April: A few rainbows and hailstorms, because it's spring. At least one day reaches the 80s, but there are more cold nights than should be. Residents check Brad's Almanac and suspect the accuracy rate on weather predictions is better than 75% (it's not).

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.