The Farmers’ Almanac Goes To Space! (An April Fools’ Story)
We are excited to announce: Our secret formula for predicting the weather will travel aboard the Ax-1 mission to the International Space Station, set to launch April 6th!
Quick Reference
- The story: in 2022 we announced our secret weather formula would ride the Axiom Ax-1 mission to the International Space Station on a golden vinyl disc.
- The catch: April Fool. Our proprietary formula, first written down in 1818, is still sealed in a black box in Lewiston, Maine, read only by Caleb Weatherbee.
- The real space discs: the Voyager Golden Records, curated by astronomer Carl Sagan, launched with Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in 1977 and are still traveling in interstellar space.
- Contents of the Voyager discs: 115 images, greetings in 55 languages, and natural sounds including wind, thunder, and animals.
- Where the Voyagers are now: Voyager 1 crossed into interstellar space in August 2012, currently over 15 billion miles from Earth per NASA JPL.
The formula, a proprietary and closely guarded calculation, was read aloud by the Farmers’ Almanac weather prognosticator Caleb Weatherbee, and recorded on a golden vinyl disc. The disc will be featured as part of Axiom’s “Americana” space museum exhibition. View the launch countdown.
Or so we said on April 1, 2022. The Farmers’ Almanac did not fly to space that spring, and our two-century-old weather formula is still under lock and key in Lewiston, Maine. But the joke has a real space story behind it, and a lot of readers wrote in asking about the Voyager Golden Records after we told it. So we brought the post back for a proper airing.
Illustrations Of The Record
April fool!
Our secret recipe for predicting the weather remains under lock and key. The Farmers’ Almanac did not go to space on Ax-1 that April, but we do have lots of other important dates on our calendar.
The Farmers’ Almanac weather formula dates back to 1818 and was written by our founder David Young. Since then only a handful of prognosticators have ever seen it. The current keeper, Caleb Weatherbee, is a pseudonym, so even readers who know our editors do not know who Caleb really is. That is on purpose. Two centuries of long-range forecasting live inside that formula.
The golden discs illustrated above, however, did go to space. Curated by astronomer Carl Sagan, The Voyager Golden Records launched with the interstellar Voyager mission in 1977. The discs contain 115 images and various recordings of natural sounds from Earth including: wind, thunder, and animals. They are still traveling in space. See the discs’ current locations and learn more about them in the video below.
The Voyager Golden Records
Carl Sagan chaired the small committee at NASA that chose what to put on the discs. The final playlist reads like a homemade mixtape from Earth: Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” Navajo night chants, a Peruvian wedding song, a Bulgarian shepherdess’s tune, and greetings in 55 languages. The images run from a fetus in the womb to a page from Isaac Newton’s System of the World.
Where Voyager 1 And Voyager 2 Are Now
Voyager 1 launched on September 5, 1977. Voyager 2 launched two weeks earlier on August 20, 1977. Between them, the two spacecraft have visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and beamed back the first close-up images of the outer planets in history. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory keeps a live tracker that updates the distances every ten seconds.
| Spacecraft | Launched | Current status | Approx. distance from Earth (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voyager 1 | September 5, 1977 | Interstellar space since August 25, 2012 | Over 15 billion miles |
| Voyager 2 | August 20, 1977 | Interstellar space since November 5, 2018 | Over 12 billion miles |
Both craft are still transmitting data on plasma waves and cosmic rays back to NASA’s Deep Space Network, though at a trickle. A signal from Voyager 1 now takes over 22 hours to reach Earth, one-way, at the speed of light. See NASA’s Mission Status page for real-time numbers.
Farmers’ Almanac April Fools’ Traditions
The Farmers’ Almanac has been in continuous print since 1818, and April Fools’ Day pranks are older than the almanac itself. Historians trace the modern tradition back to at least 1582, when France moved from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar and shifted New Year’s Day from the end of March to January 1. People who forgot or refused to change were mocked as “April fools.” Almanacs across the English-speaking world have joined in the joke ever since, tucking a straight-faced hoax next to real weather tables.
- 1957: the BBC’s “Swiss spaghetti harvest” report is broadcast on April 1 and remains the gold standard of print and broadcast April Fools.
- 1996: Taco Bell prints full-page ads claiming it has bought the Liberty Bell and renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell.
- 2022: the Farmers’ Almanac claims its formula is going to space on Axiom Ax-1. It does not.
The Farmers’ Almanac Formula, For Real
The formula considers sunspot activity, tidal action of the Moon, position of the planets, and other factors. It is not astrology, and it is not a guess. It is a mathematical set of rules published in 1818 and refined over two centuries of climate data. We predict weather up to two years out, split by seven US zones and five Canadian zones. Our accuracy hovers around 80 percent by our own testing, which we say openly, because a forecast honest about its limits is worth more than one that claims certainty it cannot deliver.
The formula is not going to the International Space Station. But it is in your mailbox every August in the print edition, and updated online at Long-Range Weather Forecast for members throughout the year.
We hope this gave you a laugh and that you learned something new about the Voyager Golden Records along the way.
Did you believe the Farmers’ Almanac was really going to space? Did you play any fun pranks on anyone today? Let us know in the comments below.
Learn about the origins of April Fools’ Day.
Keep Learning
- The Origins Of April Fools’ Day
- Long-Range Weather Forecast
- Best Days Calendar
- Full Moon Dates and Times
Farmers’ Almanac Goes To Space FAQ
Did the Farmers’ Almanac really go to space?
No. Our April 1, 2022 post that our secret weather formula would ride the Axiom Ax-1 mission to the International Space Station was an April Fools’ joke. The formula, first written by our founder David Young in 1818, is still sealed in a black box in Lewiston, Maine.
What was actually on the Voyager Golden Records?
The Voyager Golden Records carried 115 images of Earth, greetings in 55 languages, natural sounds (wind, thunder, birds, whales), and 90 minutes of music from Bach and Beethoven to Chuck Berry and Navajo night chants. Carl Sagan chaired the small NASA committee that chose the contents.
Where are Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 today?
Voyager 1 crossed into interstellar space on August 25, 2012 and is now over 15 billion miles from Earth. Voyager 2 followed on November 5, 2018 and is over 12 billion miles out. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory publishes live distances on their Voyager mission status page.
Who is Caleb Weatherbee?
Caleb Weatherbee is the pseudonym for the current keeper of the Farmers’ Almanac weather formula. His true identity has been kept secret since 1818, and only a small handful of prognosticators have ever held the role.
How accurate is the Farmers’ Almanac weather formula?
By our own year-over-year self-testing, the formula runs at roughly 80 percent accuracy on temperature and precipitation trends across our seven US zones. We publish that number openly because a forecast honest about its limits is worth more than one that overpromises.
What was the Axiom Ax-1 mission?
Axiom Space’s Ax-1 was the first entirely private crewed mission to the International Space Station. It launched on April 8, 2022 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 and carried four private astronauts. The Farmers’ Almanac was, in fact, not on board.
This article was published by the Staff at FarmersAlmanac.com. Any questions? Contact us at questions@farmersalmananac.com.
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
