Let’s tip our hat to Andrew Rothovius of Milford, who died last week at age 86… Today, I celebrate Rothovius … as the man who helped The Telegraph cast a critical eye on one of New England’s most beloved institutions, the weather predictions trotted out by “The Old Farmer’s Almanac.”
At the request of this column, Rothovius examined the almanac’s three-day predictions throughout 1993, comparing them to what actually happened. He found that the 12-dozen predictions were correct almost half the time, as long as you gave them the benefit of the doubt: for example, he gave a “Rain, cold” prediction for a three-day stretch the thumbs up even if it rained a few hours and was sunny the rest of the time.
— So writes David Books in the Nashua Telegraph. (Other people, too, appreciate Rothovius.)