The Opelousas courier., 1902-02-01
|rHE MOON AND THE WEATHER.
The Supposed Influence of the One on the
Other Not Well Established,

sib- "SSIS HiNN ~
The Supposed Influence of the One on the
Other Not Well Established.
In view Of the popular notion that
there is some relation between the
moons changes and the weather, the
United States Monthly Weather Re-
view republishes an extract from a
recent French treatise on weather, by
Alfred Angot. The writer says that
the most distinctly recognized effect
thus far is a slight atmospheric tide,
which affects the reading Of the bar
ometer about 1900 Of an inch. This,
of course, is so small that it cannot
sensibly alter the wind direction and
force or the humidity of the air.
When other weather phenomena are
examined, in comparison with the
phases Of the moon, the results are
either indecisive Or else contradict one
another. For instance, some one has
shown that at Paris for a certain
period Of years the maximum number
of rainy days in a month occurred be-
tween the first quarter and full moon,
and the minimum between the third
quarter and new moon. And the pro-
portion was put at 1.21. But, unfor-
tunately, the rule did not hold good
for the south of France. In one part
OF hat country there seemed to be
more rain in the third week than in
the other, while still in another the
maximum fell in the fourth week.
Now, If figures disagree like this,
what must one think? Does not the
moon influence southern and northern
France alike? Ought it not to operate
similarly In Europe and America ?
But, If SO, in which Of these three diff
ferent weeks ought we to look for the
most rain? II there is any rule about
the moon, ought it not to be universal?
Careful study has thus far failed to
reveal one which works for the whole
world alike. Hence there Is good
reason for doubling that there is any
rule at all The fact that there should
seem to be a preponderance Of one
kind Of weather at a certain stage of
the moon, either in France or any
other country, may possibly be ex-
planned in some such way as this: 1t
is well known that rain gauges differ
greatly among themselves in their
tales, owing to improper placing.
Again, the rainfall from any given
| storm Is never uniform over the whole
region visited, and the track Of storms
varies O good deal from time to time.
Consequently, when n tabulates the
rainfall of one place for comparison
with another, or for one part Of the
month with another at the same place,
there will always be inequalities If the
| period be short. The longer the term
of years the less will be these inequali-
ties; and it is quite possible that If the
fury, and were accurately made, the
| seeming excess of precipitation at any
| n part of the month would entirely
disappear.
There is, however. still another pos
| sibility to be considered. Those who
have studied the weather maps sys-
tematically know that there is an ap-
| parently irregular shifting around of
certain areas of high barometric pres
| sure, and that one sort of weather pre-
walls ON one side and another on the
other side. If it could be shown that
this shifting was regular and rhyth-
| mical, and related to the moons
| phases, then it would be easy to IN
| derstand why the second week of the
month would have a tendency to be
wet in one place and dry in another.
| This matter, indeed, has already been
| the subject of a good deal Of research,
and M. Angot says: "These studies
are, however, OF too recent date and
still too undeveIoped to have already
| given results that may be considered
! as sufficiently conclusive and general.
1t is, however, interesting to mention
| them here, since by continuing to
| work in the same lines we may, per-
| haDs, succeed in discovering the true
relations between the moon and the
| phenomena of the weather, since the
earlier researches have not brought
about any positive conclusion. On the
| whole, in the present state of our
knowledge, it cannot be affirmed that
the moon does exert any influence up
on the weather, but at the same time
it should not be denied that this in
| fuence may possibly exist"