128 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



POPULAE MISCONCEPTIONS CONCEENmO THE 



WEATHEE 



By ANDREW H. PALMER 



UNITED STATES WEATHER BUREAU 



THE weather is perhaps the most widely discussed of all topics of 

 conversation. It is not unnatural that it should be of such gen- 

 eral interest, since every man living upon the surface of the earth is 

 influenced by this feature of his environment. Moreover, atmospheric 

 air is itself one of the elements necessary to sustain human life. So 

 commonplace a subject as the weather, therefore, needs no definition. 

 Ever since man first appeared upon the earth the weather has been an 

 ever-present influence — its changes have affected his actions as well as 

 his very mode of life. It is only during the past century, however, that 

 any real progress has been made in a scientific Imowledge of the weather, 

 the influences to which it is subject, and the effects resulting therefrom. 

 Only a beginning has thus far been made in that direction. Meteor- 

 ology, the science of weather, and climatology, the science of climate, 

 have progressed slowly, and for this reason various misconceptions and 

 superstitions concerning weather and climate have persisted even to the 

 present time. While much is still to be learned about the atmosphere 

 it is already possible to disprove many of these false notions. It is the 

 purpose of this paper to enumerate and briefly to discuss twenty-five of 

 the more common of these misconceptions. No new facts will be pre- 

 sented — the aim simply being to make clear the fallacies underlying 

 these misconceptions in terms of principles generally accepted by meteor- 

 ologists and climatologists. 



The supposed influence of the moon, the planets or the stars is 

 probably the most widespread of all popular misconceptions about the 

 weather. Manifestations of these fallacies are seen in a great variety of 

 ways, including long-range forecasting, the planting and the harvesting 

 of crops, and various events in the husbandry of cattle during periods 

 determined by phases of the moon, etc., all of these being examples of a 

 belief in the relation of heavenly bodies and human affairs. The text- 

 books in geography still used in many of the common schools frequently 

 combine a brief discussion of astronomy and meteorology in the intro- 

 ductory chapter, thus laying the foundation for considerable confusion 

 in the minds of the children. Moreover, the ancient science of astrology 

 still has a few disciples among the uninformed, as far as the weather is 

 concerned. Meteorologists, however, are now unanimous in the opinion 



