Local man forecasts dry spring

A local weather forecaster predicts this spring will be a little dryer than normal.

Joseph Weldon Crim is up early in the morning every year on March 22 to build a bonfire before sunrise. At sunrise, he looks to see which way the wind is blowing and uses this information to predict spring weather.

This year the wind was blowing from the northwest to the southeast, Crim said.

Crim, 71, has been predicting the weather based on a Native American technique since 1983. He learned the technique from his father, J.W. Crim, who learned it from his father, Taylor Crim.

“Chief” Crim, as many call him, says his grandfather learned how to predict spring weather from the Plains Indians. Taylor Crim married into the tribe around 1900, Crim said.

Crim’s son is not interested in carrying on the tradition.

“When I’m gone, this goes into the history books,” he said.

Crim now lives in Clovis but conducts his burning ceremony at his farm near Lazbuddie, Texas.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts that precipitation this spring will be a bit below normal, with temperatures a little higher than normal in April and May.

Crim claims an 80 percent accuracy rate.