From The Archives: Winter Forecasting with Helen Lane
But local meteorologists have some competition with their forecasts.
For 41 years, Helen Lane from Crab Orchard, Tennessee had a national audience for her forecasts.
She based them on weather lore that she learned from her father.
It started in 1959, when she dropped her prediction for a harsh winter into a column at the Crossville Chronicle.
As the east struggled through a rough winter that year, her prediction started circling the country.
And her forecasts were must-see stories ever since.
She was profiled in national magazines, appeared on The Today Show and got an invite to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (she missed it with the flu).
You can read more about Helen’s history in a profile story in the Crossville Chronicle.
In 1990, we went to Crab Orchard to see first hand how she came up with her predictions.
Helen died in 2000. But her daughter, Melinda Lane Hedgecoth, is still making predictions based on her mom’s teachings.
She is calling for a cold winter, with two heavy snows.
And she says a full moon on December 25th could bring a white Christmas.
You can read more about it here.
Leave a Reply