It's a good bet that we'll see many columns within the next couple weeks predicting events and trends we're likely to see in the coming year.

Such columns are a journalistic staple at the beginning of the year, as are the various lists and rankings common at year's end.

Of course, the view is always clearer looking back than ahead. And looking back always makes it plain just how many events are impossible to predict.

The year drawing to a close saw any number of such events, some surprising, some tragic and some that were simply unpredictable.

The year started off with a surprise in January when iconic Chicago business (to those of us connected to the commercial insurance world, at least) Aon announced its plans to move its headquarters to London. I, for one, am still getting used to putting P.L.C. rather than Corp. after Aon.

While maritime disasters occur often enough that they can't be considered surprises, who might have predicted the circumstances of the Costa Concordia's running aground and capsizing off the Italian coast in January? Breaking from a computer-programmed course for a night-time near shore salute seems a maneuver more suited to a “Top Gun” fighter jock than a cruise ship captain.

And how about that June Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's health care reform law? Who would've predicted that from this court?

The weather offered its share of surprises in 2012. While tornadoes are expected in much of the United States, 2012 saw an unusually early and violent start to the tornado season with severe storms hitting numerous states in February and March.

Then there was the freakishly warm and snow-free Midwest winter. As the year began, I certainly wouldn't have predicted wearing shorts on St. Patrick's Day in Chicago.

Of course that warm, dry winter was followed by a drought that persists in much of the U.S. By some estimates, the 2012 drought may rival Superstorm Sandy as this year's most costly U.S. natural disaster.

Then there's Sandy itself. While some have long cited the potential for that sort of storm to hit the Northeast, many were surprised by the damage it brought to New Jersey and New York in late October.

Sadly, some events in 2012 left us surprised not so much by their occurrence — we've gotten all too accustomed in the U.S. to this sort of thing — but by their horror: the shootings in such places as a Colorado movie theater, a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, an Oregon shopping mall and, most recently, an elementary school in Connecticut. If only it was possible to predict that there'd be no such events in the year ahead.

Whatever 2013 might hold, we'll hope for better things. I wish you every happiness and success in the New Year.