Your driveway looks like a snow sculpture version of the Grand Canyon. You've actually worn out your snow shovel.

You canceled your summer vacation trip because after missing so many days of school, your children may be in class until midsummer. You yearn to hear the phrase, "It's not the heat. It's the humidity."This morning freezing rain and then snow in the Tamaqua area contributed to five crashes all at the same time.When will it all end?Let's turn to that generations-old trusted companion, "The Old Farmer's Almanac."According to the almanac, our area is in the Appalachians, a swath that includes Allentown, Altoona, Lancaster, Reading and Scranton.Choosing Scranton, the almanac predicts snow flurries and cold between Feb. 17 and Feb. 20, then a snowstorm, then flurries and cold between Feb. 21 and Feb. 26. The almanac forecasts rain to snow between Feb. 27-28.Looking ahead to March, the almanac predicts mostly mild weather, although a couple of degrees colder than normal, and with an average amount of precipitation. The end of March, from March 26 through 31, will bring rain, then sunny, mild weather, the almanac says.The almanac also predicted the winter of 2013 to 2014 would be colder and drier than normal, with the coldest periods in early and late December, early January and early February. It called for normal amounts of snowfall in the north and higher than normal amounts in the south, with the snowiest periods in early November and mid-to-late February.The almanac predicts a drier and much warmer than usual spring, and a hotter, rainier summer. The hottest periods will be in mid-to-late June and early to mid July, the almanac says.September and October are expected to be drier than normal, with temperatures about normal for the season.Based in Lewiston, Maine, the almanac has been mapping out weather patterns since it was first published in 1818.While meteorologists now use computer models, satellites and other high-tech methods to forecast weather, the Old Farmer's Almanac uses a "secret formula" devised in 1792 by the magazine's founder, Robert B. Thomas.Thomas believed the Earth's weather was influenced by sunspots. The almanac refined and enhanced Thomas' formula, using modern technology and scientific calculations. Its forecasters use solar science, climatology and meteorology to predict weather trends and events by comparing solar patterns and historical weather conditions with current solar activity, the almanac explains.The almanac's weather forecasts are about 80 percent accurate, said Ginger Vaughan, vice-president of client relations for the "The Old Farmer's Almanac."Should the almanac's forecasts be taken with a grain of rock salt?Penn State climatologist Paul Knight, looking at recent weather, believes so.He said the almanac's forecast for December for much of the state predicted temperatures to be 6 degrees Fahrenheit below normal, and precipitation to be 1.5 inches below normal.Instead, "temperatures averaged 1 degree above normal and precipitation was 0.94 inches above normal. This is very poor," he said.The January almanac forecast called for temperatures to be 3 degrees above normal and precipitation 0.5 inches below normal. But actual temperatures averaged 6.3 degrees below normal and precipitation 0.64 inches below normal, "which was a spot of daylight in an abysmal temperature forecast," Knight said.This month, the almanac called for temperatures to be 2 degrees below normal and precipitation an inch below average."So far, using Harrisburg as a midpoint, it has been 6.3 degrees below normal and 1.35 inches above average precipitation. So out of six forecast elements, two have been correct, or a score of 33 percent," Knight said. "Tossing darts would be better."