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PRINTDoes Solar Wind Affect the Weather?
Electrically charged particles are continuously streaming away from the sun’s seething surface as a solar wind. When the particles encounter the earth’s magnetic field, the particles and the earth’s magnetic fields undergo complex interactions. Many scientists speculate that this influences widespread weather changes, and can affect long-term shifts in the climate.
Yet the solar particles do not reach the lower atmosphere where weather occurs, and their energy seems too small to set off chain reactions.There is no scientific proof that the solar wind affects our weather, but many believe it does.
Illustration courtesy of www.dkimages.com
Sandi Duncan is the Managing Editor of the Farmers' Almanac. Click here to read Sandi's full biography.Live Weather from WeatherBug
Farmers' Almanac Long Range Weather
February 8th - February 11th
- Northeast U.S.
Wet snow mixed with rain Mid-Atlantic north through New England; slushy accumulations of 4+" possible.
- Midwest/Great Lakes U.S.
Accumulating snows Kentucky, Ohio, then clearing. Fair elsewhere.
- Southeast U.S.
Wet snow Tennessee, western North Carolina; wintry mix northern Mississippi, Alabama. Elsewhere, rain, then clearing.
- North Central U.S.
Drier, much colder.
- South Central U.S.
Snow parts of Arkansas, then clearing, cold. Clear, much colder elsewhere.
- Northwest U.S.
Drier, but colder.
- Southwest U.S.
Drier, but noticeably colder.
• View entire Long Range Weather Forecast »
• Farmers' Almanac 2011-12 Winter Outlook »
• View the Almanac Daily Planner »
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If you notice a hole in the upper left-hand corner of your Farmers' Almanac, don't return it to the store! That hole isn't a defect; it's a part of history. Starting with the first edition of the Farmers' Almanac in 1818, readers used to nail holes into the corners to hang it up in their homes, barns, and outhouses (to provide both reading material and toilet paper). In 1910, the Almanac's publishers began pre-drilling holes in the corners to make it even easier for readers to keep all of that invaluable information (and paper) handy.