Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-06
MOON AND THE WEATHER
Tho Belief That It Influences Changes is a
False One.
The Popular Opinion That 1T Has an
Effect ON Tides IL Also .
Fallacy.


Prof. II. A. Hazen In Popular Science.
A belief that the moon has a potent in
fiuence on weather changes is well nigh
universal The moons appearance goes
through such marked changes each month
that 1t would be very natural to attribute
weather changes to these. In this way un-
oouotediy such sayings as these have
arisen: THE weather won't change till the
moon changes" If the moon lies SO that
water cannot run out. we shall have
drought, "A wet moon is one upon which
a huntsman can hang his horn.' etc Dill
gent inquiry. at one time, as to the popular
belief regarding this question brought out
the view more persistent than any other
that more rain will occur at the new than
at the full moon. Singularly enough, In
Connecticut, on Long Island sound there
does seem to be such a law but it does not
hold in the interior of the country, and
test on the Pacific coast showed, If any
thing. exactly the opposite. At London,
where observations have been made for
more than century, a careful computation
for the whole period has shown no effect.
If we reflect that the moon is dead and
does not have any air, even, upon it, that 1t
always shows the same face to the earth,
that its changes are simply due to
changes In its position as respects the
earth and sun, and that its varying ap-
pc arances are all borrowed, we see how
absurd the notion is that the moon does in
fiUence our weather There is, however. an
other argument that appears quite valid at
first sight. If the moon can raise a tide Of
GO feet in the ocean, why may it not raise
a tremendous tide in the extremely tenuous
air, 500 times lighter than water, or a tide
of about 5000 feet, and If so. 1t seems
easy to see that such commotion would
affect our weather enormously.
The tide of sixty feet the highest in the
WORLD is experienced only in the Bay Of
Fundy and is due to the configuration Of
the Atlantic coast. In the open Pacific
the tide is only little over one foot. Most
careful observations of lunar atmos-
pheric tide have been made at St Helena
In md-ocean and have shown a tide lit
tie more than o01 inch. Since ordinary
weather changes affect the pressure a
thousand times as much, we see how ex-
tremely insignificant the moons total eff
feet must be.
There is common saying. 1.-The full
moon has power to drive away Clouds"
and some computations seem to bear out
this idea. If any one will look to the east
as the rising full! moon shines through the
clouds. he will often see the clouds dis
appear. There Is natural explanation
for this, however, and in no wise depend
ent upon the moon. A long series of OBJ
servationS have shown a diurnal range in
cloudness with a minimum point or time
of least clouds. from 6 to m, hence we
see that, as the full moon rises and ad-
vances in the sky during this period, there
will often appear a dimnution Of clouds.
Lord Rosse turned his big rejecting teie
scope $50 big that a tall man walking erect
in it could carry spread umbrella} to-
ward the moon and found that, II any
thing, the earth received Just little chill
Ing from the full moon. More recently the
bolometer, an instrument which can meas
ure less than one milionth of degree of
temperature change has shown that the
earth receives a tiny bit of heat from the
full moon. The evidence is cumulative and
overwhelming that no weather changes
can be aScribed to the moon.