Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-09-30
WEATHER FALLACIES
THEY ARE KNOCKED ON THE HEAD BY
AN ENGLISH INVESTIGATOR.
The Signs That Fail as Often rs They Are
vcrified-Old Supcrstitions Exploded by
Modern meteorological study-Animal
! Signs No Good.

~
Modern meteorological study-Animal
I Signs No Good.
Superstitious and proverbial lore about
the weather was cruelty rent in the ICON
oclastlc address on Weather Fallaces''
read to the Royal Meteorological society nj
It's meeting in London by the president.
X. lnwards, and printed in The Quarterly
journal OF the society. In early times.
when the weather had to be studied from
cloud, sky and sea and from the behavior
OF animals and plants, men were pardon
able for doing what is still often a cause
of error, foretelling what they most wished
for and putting down as universal law
what was only a coincidence of indcpcnd.
ent events. One class of prophecies con.
meets the weather with certain seasons OF
the year, particularly days in the week
or the days of certain saints, which was "A
convenient way of fixing date, and even
with particular times of the day. We often
hear such sayings as "Fine on Friday.
fine on Sunday" or Friday is the best
and the worst day of the week." and PROV
CRIBS like " Rain at T. fine at H." When
these sayings come true they are faithful
ly remembered, when they fail they arc
forgotten. There is no kind of foundation
for such rules, which Mr.. Inwartls calls
self exploding, or for the belief that IL
1t rains on st. Swithin's day, July Is, 1t
will rain for 40 days after.
Equally unfounded are the scientific su
perstitions, presented under tho shield of
astronomy, which bdsc infallible rules for
the weather on the relative position of the
moon, sun and planets. These appeal to
20,
The known action of sun and moon on
ocean tides is generally the starting point
of such theories, and it is clear to common
sense that when the earth is nearer to the
sun or the moon to the earth, or both sun
and moon are pulling together, there ought
to be tide of atmosphere similar to tho
tide of ocean which these influences I'M
doubleday produce. But the facts do mob
bear the theory out. The atmospheric
tides do not ebb and flow, except in an
intinitesimal degree.
Again, the sun and moon move In
planes that are at an angle to each other,
SO that at times their attraction acts in
widely diverging lines at others almost in
tho same plane. Here is a clear case:
When the angle is greatest when the moon
is ION her back, there must be atmos-
phcric disturbance. Unfortunately tho
storms do not come, and we must find
some other cause for our weather. Hardly
a year goes by without new moon theo-
ry to account for it, NJ. Flarguergues, as
the result of 20 years of observations, has
found that when the moon was farthest
from the earth the barometer averaged 765
millimcters, and when nearest 75i milf
meters, u difference of only one millimeter
Some prophets have built their faith on
cycles, predicting that weather changes [
would repeat themselves when sun and
moon got back into the same relative posi-
ton, which they do in 10 years, with an
error of only an hour and u half Others
advocate a cycle of 81 years, but all tho
cycle systems have broken down when
tested, and rs far as we know there is no
period within which weather changes ro-
peat themselves. There are plenty of other
fallacies about the moon, such as that tho
full moon clears away clouds; that you
should sow beans or cut trees on the wane
of the moon; that it is a bad sign if the
moon changes on Saturday or Sunday;
that two full moons in month will bring
flood; that to see the old moon In tho
arms of the new brings on rain. NJ. Flam-
marion says that "the moons influence on
the weather is negligible. The heat COM
lhS run IL WOliiu dliCCb our temperature
by twelye-millionths of degree, and tho
atmospheric tides caused by it would only
affect the barometric pressure few hun
dredths of an inch, far less than tho
changes always taking place from other
causes"
Even the halo round the moon is dis
credited. 1t has been found by observers
that it is followed by fine weather as often
as by rain
About tho sun there are many faliacies,
and ever since the discovery that the spots
on its surface appear with greater fire.
quonoy theorists in shoals have tried to
prove that they rulc our weather. 1t has
been proved that the frequency of sun spots
and the variations of the magnetic needle
are intimately connected and that tho
aurora appears and disappears in some sort
of sympathy with tho sun spot variations,
but this is as far as we can get for tho
present, rs these changes seem to have no
definite relation to our weather. Mr. Scott
has Proved that there are 10 equinoctial
gales
Coming down to earth, we find long
list of statements of the behavior Of ami
mails and plants having "a supposed con-
nection with the weather. f.. j. Lowe has
carefully examined u number of well
known signs. and all seem to break down
completely. He took the signs Of bats
flying about In the evening, many toads
appearing at sunset, great quantities Of
snails, fish rising to the surface, bees busy,
crowds of locusts, restless cattle, land rails
clamorous, fl,cs and gnats troublesome,
many insects, crows flocking and noisy,
spider webs thick on the grass, spiders
hanging from their webs in the evening
and ducks and geese making more noise
than usual. Calling a day fine when no
rain was measured in the rain gauge, he
found in 1851 observations of such signs
that they were followed 213 times by fine
weather and only 14S by rain. Even swal-
lows flying low cannot be depended upon,
as especially in summer and autumn they
almost invariably skim along the ground
Animals probably feel the dampness or
darkness preceding wet weather, and this
makes them uneasy, but not more than 1t
affects man himself. As to cows scratch
ing their ears and goats uttering cries,
they are no more true as signs OF rain than