Earthquake Weather Ask Dave a weather question

Dave Thurlow, Host

 
Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow and this is The Weather Notebook. A very small number of scientists speculate that there is some type of connection between air pressure, and earthquakes. One person who has reason to believe this, is mountain climber Jed Williamson, former president of the American Alpine Club who had a meteorological and geological climbing adventure in the former Soviet Union.

Summit, Peak Lenin

Jed: "We were actually just standing on the side ofthe Krilenko Face of Peak Lenin. It was noontime,and it was very, very hot." "Peter got out hisaltimeter and he tapped his altimeter and he said'Oh dear! Uh-oh.' And I said, 'What's the matter.'He said, 'Something's wrong here; this barometerjust changed almost two points.' But whathappened immediately following was that webegan to feel an earthquake, which was later toldto us, a 7.2 on the Richter scale. And it causedthe entire face of our peak and the peak next to usto avalanche."

Fortunately, everyone dug out safely from the avalanche, but the threat of aftershocks drove the climbers off the mountain.

This is just one in a number of stories that seem to show changes in weather predicting earthquakes, but scientists disagree as to whether such a correlation really exists. Weather folklore and history is full of anecdotes referring to conditions like clear skies, sudden pressure changes, a red glow in the air, cold, or even static electricity as earthquake precursors.

What do you think, any earthquake weather sightings in your past? Give us a call, toll-free at 888-724-6001 or visit our website at weathernotebook.org and let us know what you think.

Today's writer is Bryan Yeaton. Thanks to Jed Williamson, author of "Accidents in North American Mountaineering". The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory and is underwritten by Subaru with major support provided by the National Science Foundation.