Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

Read the passage and select ALL correct options. Wrong selections lose points.

Long before search engines, households relied on the annual almanac for weather forecasts, planting dates, tide tables, and astrological notes bundled into a single cheap pamphlet. Publishers guarded their forecasting methods closely, though independent tests later suggested accuracy barely exceeded chance for forecasts made more than a few days ahead. Even so, farmers valued the almanac's long-range planting guidance because it offered a consistent, low-cost reference point rather than a guaranteed prediction, and many kept the same publisher's edition for decades out of habit. Circulation declined sharply once televised weather forecasting became widespread, yet a niche readership persists today, drawn less to forecasting accuracy than to the miscellany of trivia, proverbs, and historical anecdotes each edition includes.