Old Farmer's Almanac

Daily Calendar for Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Daily Calendar

View daily calendar information including holidays, advice, and daily features.

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Question of the Day

What was the biggest volcanic eruption in the United States?

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the “most destructive” volcanic eruption in the United States was that of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, in Washington state, in which more than 50 people were killed. The eruption of Alaska’s Novarupta in 1912 was the largest by volume (again, according to the USGS), but it occurred in a remote area. Hawaii’s Kilauea still has intermittent eruptions that have mostly consisted of lava flows in recent years.

Advice of the Day

Much rain in October, much wind in December.

Home Hint of the Day

Next time you’re at the town landfill, look for old refrigerators with the grills still in them. As long as the grills are not vinyl coated, they’re great for cooking over a charcoal fire (or for use as cookie cooling racks).

Word of the Day

Dominical letter
A letter from A to G, denoting Sundays in the ecclesiastical calendar for a given year, determined by the date on which the first Sunday falls. If it falls on January 1, the letter (for the year) is A; if it falls on January 2, the letter is B; and so on.

Puzzle of the Day

I am a caller at every home where you may meet. For daily I perambulate along each street. Take one letter from me and still you will see. I’m the same as before, as I’ll always be. Take two letters from me, or three or four. I’ll still be the same as I was before. In fact, I can tell you that all my letters you may take. Yet of me nothing else can you make.

Answer: Postman

Born

  • Sir Christopher Wren (architect) –
  • John Dewey (philosopher) –
  • Charles Ives (composer) –
  • Jelly Roll Morton (jazz musician) –
  • Arlene Francis (actress) –
  • Grandpa Jones (country music performer) –
  • Art Buchwald (journalist) –
  • Dr. Joyce Brothers (psychologist) –
  • Mickey Mantle (baseball player) –
  • Michael McClure (poet) –
  • Jerry Orbach (actor) –
  • Tom Petty (musician; Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) –
  • Keith Hernandez (baseball player) –
  • Viggo Mortensen (actor) –

Died

  • Sir Richard Burton (explorer) –
  • Herbert Hoover (31st U.S. president) –
  • Jane Wyatt (actress) –
  • Oscar de la Renta (fashion designer) –

Events

  • The town clock in Halifax, Nova Scotia, began keeping time –
  • Louisiana Purchase ratified by U.S. Senate –
  • 49th parallel determined as western U.S/Canadian border –
  • Last day of Prince of Wales’s North American tour, Portland, Maine –
  • Canadian newspaper La Presse debuted –
  • The first cork-centered baseball, invented by Benjamin Shibe, was used in the World Series in Chicago –
  • Laurel and Hardy’s The Flying Deuces debuted –
  • Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis –
  • John Bardeen became the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in the same field. He received the awards in 1956 and 1972 for his theory of superconductivity and development of electronic transistors –
  • A plane carrying the group Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed in Mississippi –
  • Oakland/Berkeley firestorm began in California –
  • ABC-TV pulled the plug on Miss America, leaving the famous beauty pageant without a network television sponsor for the first time in 50 years –
  • The Boston Red Sox made baseball history by becoming the first baseball team to lose the first three games of a best-of-seven series, then come back with four victories to win it –

Weather

  • Sheridan, Wyoming, experienced a bad snowstorm –