SUN AND WEATHER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1779, 22 January 1918, Page 4

SUN AND WEATHER.

MR. WRAGGE’S FORECAST.

LIKELIHOOD OF SEISMIC ACTI-

VITY IN 1920,

“The present maximum of the sun,” said Mr Clement Wragge in an interview with an Auckland reporter, “is probably the most abnormal on record. Ten days ago seventeen disturbances, popularly called sun spots, were observed in the solar atmosphere, the largest being about 45,000 miles in diameter. But upheavals even greater, to 100,000 miles in diameter, have been observed during this remarkable period of solar upheaval. From these titanic cyclones in the sun, other or wireless waves of varying wave lengths are always emanating, and under them the earth and our fellow planets sing, vibrate, and hum like the singing of a telegraph wire, but inasmuch as all our senses on the physical plane are limited, our organs of hearing are not sufficiently acute to respond to them. ■ in order to understand this theory it must oc borne in mind that the whole endless universe from sun to sun, planet to planet, system to system, is governed by wireless waves. Our sun is operating in its turn by the ether waves emanating from our -.nri nearest sun, which is Alpha Centauri, the brightest of the two pointers to the Southern Cross, and so it goes on through the inter-stellar or inter-solar spaces. FACTORS IN CLIMATIC CHANGES.

“The forecasts of the seasons are based on three main factors, first the physical condition of the sun with respect to its maximum and minimum moods; secondly, the astronomic 0 ! positions of the moon and periodical swing of lunar declination; thirdly, the perturbations or wireless waves that arc for ever working throughout our solar system, linking up the earth with our fellow-planets. That this working hypothesis with respect to seasonable weather forecasting is a sound one there is no doubt whatever, but; a source of error lies in the fact that wc do not yet thoroughly understand the nature of the emanations from Alpha Centauri, which affect our sun, Jl is a remarkable fact that there is connection so intimate between the weather —if we may use such a term —of the sun and the weather of the earth, as if the two bodies, through 93 millions of miles, were actually linked up by a telegraph wire. So they are in very fact, but by wireless, as I have already stated. In the northern hemisphere of the sun, winds of terrific velocity sweep around in appalling and fiery cyclones in the opposite directions to the hands of a clock, and in the southern hemisphere of the sun, in the same direction of clock hands, and the very same circulation lakes place, around our globe in the northern and southern hemispheres respectively. POP EGA ST OF STORMY SEASON. “Arguing from these .standpoints, and seeing that actions and reactions pervade the Cosmos, there is every reason to believe that the approaching hurricane season over the Pacific Islands off the coast of Queensland and New South Wales, and llic north-west coast of West Australia, also around Mauritius and South Jndnan Ocean, will he very pronounced, ami, us such disturbances arc expected to pass further south than usual, it is reasonable to suppose that the Auckland Province, and especially North Auckland, will be in a measure affected by the southern sides or edges of the Pacific storms, which should result in heavy winds from between oast, north-east, north and north-east, with accompanying periodical heavy rains. The present absence of rainfall is mainly due to the condition of what may be termed the static equilibrium attaching to the summer solstice, and as the sun's southern declination decreases towards the equator the state of affairs just mentioned may be expected more to develop. But it must ever be borne in mind that, with regard to forecasts of the seasons, we dare not speak ex cathedra, that wc only claim, and equitably so, u high percentage of accuracy, knowing that our hypothetical formula iz a sound one, and absolute accuracy is never expected, remembering the qualifying influences from Alpha Centauri. S UNSTORMS AND EARTHQUAKES.

“in regard to earthquakes,” continued Mr Wragge, “there is no doubt the sun’s influence is the prime factor —I do not say the only one —in causing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The recent Wairurapa earthquake followed a mighty solar upheaval exceeding 100,900 miles from edge to edge. The Guatemala earthquake was contemporaneous with the enormous solar energy already mentioned, together with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. I am not forecasting future earthquakes, and I am not sounding the alarmist note, but I do emphatically say that in consequence of the change of wireless wave lengths from the sun —like altering the gear of a motor car — which are bound to operate after 1920, conditions will become more

favourable for seismic and volcanic action in all those parts of the Southern Hemisphere where (ho surface of the earth is weak. It is just possible —I do not say probable —that some of the alleged extinct volcanoes may begin to manifest some slight signs of activity. My advice when that period arrives to those people who live in earthquake areas is not to sleep 100 near chimneys, which are liable to tumble down. It is possible that seismic action may become evident in the neighbourhood of Cook Straits and Canterbury Plains, but remember,” he concluded, “1 am not sounding the alarmist note. The tone that I use is embodied in the word 'caution. 1 ”