Contents Title Page Contents ABOUT THIS ALMANAC Contact Us To Patrons How to Use This Almanac SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY SECTION Letter from President Barack Obama Letter from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau The Life and Times of Robert B. Thomas The 1793 (Old) Farmer's Almanac 225 Years of Love, Luck, and Tradition A Colorful Collection of Candid Commentaries by 21st-Century Celebrities 2017 TRENDS AMUSEMENT Dog Training for Busy People 2016 Essay Contest Winners Maddening Mind-Manglers Anecdotes & Pleasantries ASTROLOGY Secrets of the Zodiac Best Days for 2017 ASTRONOMY Eclipses Bright Stars The Twilight Zone/Meteor Showers The Visible Planets Astronomical Glossary 2017’s Greatest Spectacle CALENDAR Three-Year Calendar Holidays and Observances Calendar Pages NOVEMBER 2016 DECEMBER 2016 JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER Tides Time Corrections FISHING Home Waters: Rivers That Run in the Mind Best Fishing Days and Times FOOD Almanac Snacks The Savory Pie Contest Winners GARDENING Call In the Pollinators Harvest a Helping of History Dry-Farm for Tasty Tomatoes Sow Good! Frosts and Growing Seasons Planting by the Moon’s Phase HISTORY Froth of Our Fathers HUSBANDRY Turpentine, Tar, & Butter Gestation and Mating Tables NATURE Mangrove Mysteries Explained ROMANCE How to Woo on the Web WEATHER A Chronological Compendium of Weather Facts, Phenomena, and Forecasts Winter/Summer Weather Maps The 2016–17 General Weather Report and Forecast How We Predict The Weather How Accurate Was Our Forecast Last Winter? Weather Regions Map Forecasts by Region Region 1 Forecast: Northeast Region 2 Forecast: Atlantic Corridor Region 3 Forecast: Appalachians Region 4 Forecast: Southeast Region 5 Forecast: Florida Region 6 Forecast: Lower Lakes Region 7 Forecast: Ohio Valley Region 8 Forecast: Deep South Region 9 Forecast: Upper Midwest Region 10 Forecast: Heartland Region 11 Forecast: Texas–Oklahoma Region 12 Forecast: High Plains Region 13 Forecast: Intermountain Region 14 Forecast: Desert Southwest Region 15 Forecast: Pacific Northwest Region 16 Forecast: Pacific Southwest Region 17 Forecast: Alaska Region 18 Forecast: Hawaii Table of Measures The Ins and Outs of Vitamins A Reference Compendium Advertisement Contact Us Established in 1792 and published every year thereafter ROBERT B. THOMAS, founder (1766–1846) YANKEE PUBLISHING INC. EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING OFFICES P.O. Box 520, 1121 Main Street, Dublin, NH 03444 Phone: 603-563-8111 • Fax: 603-563-8252 PUBLISHER (23rd since 1792): Sherin Pierce EDITOR IN CHIEF: Judson D. Hale Sr. EDITOR (13th since 1792): Janice Stillman ART DIRECTOR: Colleen Quinnell MANAGING EDITOR: Jack Burnett SENIOR RESEARCH EDITOR: Mare-Anne Jarvela SENIOR EDITORS: Sarah Perreault, Heidi Stonehill EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE: Tim Clark WEATHER GRAPHICS AND CONSULTATION: AccuWeather, Inc. V.P., NEW MEDIA AND PRODUCTION: Paul Belliveau PRODUCTION DIRECTORS: Susan Gross, David Ziarnowski SENIOR PRODUCTION ARTISTS: Rachel Kipka, Jennifer Freeman WEB SITE: ALMANAC.COM DIGITAL EDITOR: Catherine Boeckmann NEW MEDIA DESIGNERS: Lou S. Eastman, Amy O’Brien E-COMMERCE MANAGER: Alan Henning PROGRAMMING: Peter Rukavina CONTACT US We welcome your questions and comments about articles in and topics for this Almanac. Mail all editorial correspondence to Editor, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, P.O. Box 520, Dublin, NH 03444-0520; fax us at 603-563-8252; or contact us through Almanac.com/Feedback. The Old Farmer’s Almanac can not accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts and will not acknowledge any hard-copy queries or manuscripts that do not include a stamped and addressed return envelope. All printing inks used in this edition of The Old Farmer’s Almanac are soy- based. This product is recyclable. Consult local recycling regulations for the right way to do it. Thank you for buying this Almanac! We hope that you find it “useful, with a pleasant degree of humor.” Thanks, too, to everyone who had a hand in it, including advertisers, distributors, printers, and sales and delivery people. No part of this Almanac may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other) without written permission of the publisher. PUBLIC RELATIONS Quinn/Brein • 206-842-8922 [email protected] CONSUMER MAIL ORDERS Call 800-ALMANAC (800-256-2622) or go to Almanac.com/Shop CONSUMER MARKETING MANAGER: Kate McPherson • 800-895-9265, ext. 188 RETAIL SALES Stacey Korpi, 800-895-9265, ext. 160 Janice Edson, ext. 126 DISTRIBUTORS NATIONAL: Curtis Circulation Company New Milford, NJ BOOKSTORE: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Boston, MA The Old Farmer’s Almanac publications are available for sales promotions or premiums. Contact Beacon Promotions, [email protected]. YANKEE PUBLISHING INCORPORATED Jamie Trowbridge, President; Judson D. Hale Sr., Senior Vice President; Paul Belliveau, Jody Bugbee, Judson D. Hale Jr., Brook Holmberg, Sherin Pierce, Vice Presidents. The Old Farmer’s Almanac/Yankee Publishing Inc. assumes no responsibility for claims made by advertisers or failure by its advertisers to deliver any goods or services advertised herein. Publication of any advertisement by The Old Farmer’s Almanac/Yankee Publishing Inc. is not an endorsement of the product or service advertised therein. OUR CONTRIBUTORS Bob Berman, our astronomy editor, is the director of Overlook Observatory in Woodstock and Storm King Observatory in Cornwall, both in New York. In 1976, he founded the Catskill Astronomical Society. Bob has led many aurora and eclipse expeditions, venturing as far as the Arctic and Antarctic. Tim Clark, a retired high school English teacher from New Hampshire, wrote the Farmer’s Calendar essays that appear in this edition. His recordings of them are available free at Almanac.com/Podcast. He has composed the weather doggerel on the Calendar Pages since 1980. Bethany E. Cobb, our astronomer, earned a Ph.D. in astronomy at Yale University and is an Assistant Professor of Honors and Physics at George Washington University. She also conducts research on gamma-ray bursts and follows numerous astronomy pursuits, including teaching astronomy to adults at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Berkeley. When she is not scanning the sky, she enjoys playing the violin, figure skating, and reading science fiction. Celeste Longacre, our astrologer, often refers to astrology as “a study of timing, and timing is everything.” A New Hampshire native, she has been a practicing astrologer for more than 25 years. Her book, Celeste’s Garden Delights (2015), is available for sale on her Web site, www.celestelongacre.com. Michael Steinberg, our meteorologist, has been forecasting weather for the Almanac since 1996. In addition to college degrees in atmospheric science and meteorology, he brings a lifetime of experience to the task: He began predicting weather when he attended the only high school in the world with weather Teletypes and radar.