2026 Global Predictions: For more than 260 years, Old Moore’s Almanac has been a staple on Irish mantelpieces, famous for its uncanny ability to foresee major world events before they happen. When the 2026 edition hit shelves late last year, readers were met with a bizarre mix of prophecies. From a “boring year” and AI-generated Hollywood stars to resurrected animals and high-seas chaos it was all in there. Now that we are nearing the end of 2026, a look back at the global headlines shows that the ancient prophetic guide may have been right on the money once again.
2026 Global Predictions: Big airline story
While commercial aviation avoided the worst of the Almanac’s warnings, the private jet world made tragic headlines just weeks ago. On November 1, a business jet bound for the Bahamas crashed into a residential neighbourhood in Palm Beach County, Florida, killing all nine people on board and leaving what Governor Ron DeSantis described as a “cataclysmic” crater. People were unusually obsessed with the young high-achieving co-pilot, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, who narrated the event until the very end with amazing self-control.
Meteorite makes the news
Space rocks have repeatedly stolen the spotlight in 2026, most notably with a bizarre discovery announced just days ago. Scientists analysing a fireball that streaked across Cape Cod back in May revealed it wasn’t part of any known meteor shower, but rather a rare “lone wolf” meteorite originating from beyond Jupiter. Space.com broke down the findings in their report on the Cape Cod “lone wolf” meteorite discovery, right as another 47,000 mph fireball lit up skies over Tennessee and North Carolina.
Naval incident hits the news
Maritime tensions boiled over multiple times this year, in the Straight of Hormuz. This absolutely fulfils the Almanac’s warning of trouble at sea. Just this week, commercial vessels in the eastern Strait of Hormuz were rocked by projectile and suspected naval mine strikes.
Fire clusters
France has been rocked by months of devastating civil unrest and riots. Starting with student walkouts over crumbling school conditions and cost-of-living pressures, demonstrations repeatedly boiled over into intense urban violence, arson, and widespread looting in Paris, Marseille, and Lyon. With petrol bombs thrown at security forces and billions in public damage, the chaotic scenes fulfilled the Almanac’s prediction of fiery civil disorder with historic monuments burned to the ground.
Flooding events see unprecedented stories
Old Moore specifically warned of severe, unprecedented flooding in 2026, and Irish communities bore the brunt of extreme downpours throughout the year. Back in January, Storm Chandra battered the capital, causing the River Dodder to burst its banks in Rathfarnham and leaving cars submerged in waist-deep water around Nutgrove as more than 20,000 premises lost power. The chaos continued through a February multi-hazard coastal surge and returned in October when Storm Austen dumped up to 40mm of rain on the Dublin Mountains overnight, forcing emergency crews into action across Fingal and leaving major routes impassable.
New replacement for the Big Bang theory
In a massive shake-up for cosmologists, researchers at the University of Ottawa published a radical model this month suggesting the universe is actually 26.7 billion years old, nearly twice the accepted age, and requires neither dark matter nor dark energy to function. While it hasn’t officially overthrown the textbook Big Bang model yet, ScienceDaily’s report on the 26.7-billion-year-old universe theory shows scientists are seriously testing a total rewrite of cosmic history.
Many visits to the moon
Humanity’s return to the lunar neighborhood hit overdrive in 2026. NASA dominated headlines this month as preparations ramped up for the four-astronaut Artemis II lunar flyby, alongside newly unveiled plans to accelerate Artemis III and award fresh moon-base transportation contracts. Check out NASA’s official update on accelerating its return to the Moon to see how crowded lunar orbit is about to get.
Timeline for dinosaurs change
Paleontologists rewrote the rulebook on prehistoric biology this November after discovering the first-ever direct molecular traces of dinosaur blood and collagen inside a 115-million-year-old fossil bone in Brazil. Previously, scientists doubted soft biomolecules could survive that long, making it a game-changer for our understanding of the dinosaur era.
Mini ice age pre-conditions are met
While the planet as a whole continued warming, climate scientists raised fresh alarms in November over the weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)—the vital ocean current system that keeps Europe and North America temperate. Researchers warned that melting Greenland ice is pushing the current toward a tipping point that could trigger severe regional cooling.
2026 Global Predictions: Volcano tourism in the news
Thrill-seeking travelers flocked to active craters in record numbers this year, sometimes getting a little too close for comfort. In June, tourists standing just 400 meters from Guatemala’s Fuego volcano captured viral nighttime footage of a massive explosion, while magma buildup in Iceland kept the Reykjanes Peninsula at the center of global travel advisories.
2026 Global Predictions: Cruise ship drama
If you thought 2026 would be smooth sailing, think again. Hundreds of retirees who sold their homes to live permanently aboard a “forever” residential cruise ship were unceremoniously ordered off the vessel in Cambodia when the operator folded.
This is just one of several bizarre high-seas sagas this year. In May, international health authorities scrambled to contain a rare, deadly cluster of Andes hantavirus aboard the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius, which killed three people and forced passengers into quarantine and emergency repatriation in Tenerife after the vessel departed South America.
Meanwhile, diplomatic drama erupted at sea in July when Turkish authorities blocked Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady, carrying roughly 2,000 passengers on an Atlantis gay charter cruise, from docking in Kuşadası, citing “moral values”.
2026 Global Predictions: No more movie studios
While Hollywood hasn’t vanished completely, the traditional studio system suffered brutal collapses, bankruptcies, and billion-dollar box office wipeouts throughout 2026. Legendary visual effects house Tippett Studio filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors after 35 years, independent production hub GUM Studios collapsed into bankruptcy, and one of Hollywood’s oldest giants effectively ceased to exist as an independent entity when Paramount completed its $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Meanwhile, major studios bled hundreds of millions on catastrophic 2026 box office bombs like Desert Warrior ($700k made on a $140 million budget), Masters of the Universe, and Supergirl, leaving industry insiders questioning whether the classic big-budget studio model is finished for good.
2026 Global Predictions: Earthquake for Australia
Australia is hardly known as a seismic hotspot, making this prediction a bold gamble, yet it paid off in spades. In early October, a significant 4.8-magnitude tremor struck near Korumburra in Victoria, triggering more than 250 aftershocks that have continued rattling the region right into November, alongside a 4.9-magnitude quake offshore South Australia in late October. As detailed by the Seismology Research Centre’s 2026 earthquake log, thousands of Australians were shaken awake this year, proving Old Moore’s geological instincts were spot on.
