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Predicting Weather By The Moon - Xavier University Libraries

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<strong>Weather</strong> <strong>By</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Moon</strong><br />

and a combined effect on the Sun. In their half-orbits, Jupiter<br />

and Saturn are alternately together on the same side<br />

of the sun, and then on either side at 180deg to each other,<br />

with the Sun in the middle of them. This condition could<br />

be the catalyst to commence the sunspot cycle.<br />

<strong>The</strong> famous Australian forecaster Inigo Jones employed<br />

this for many years in his long-range forecasting<br />

system. Jupiter and Saturn, he said, shielded the sun from<br />

the magnetic field through which the solar system moves.<br />

At the time of this shielding, sunspots were absent from<br />

the Sun and this was supposedly a time for droughts in Australia.<br />

Why this should be so was never mentioned.. But in<br />

between were times of sunspots, storms and floods. Based<br />

on this, droughts were forecast for the summer of 1995-<br />

1996 and 1998-1999 way back in 1949. So far this has<br />

proven correct, for the Crohamhurst Observatory he<br />

founded, and his successor Lennox Walker. Apparently the<br />

next big drought, with dry summer, autumn and winter, will<br />

be 2001-2002 followed by a dry spell in 2004-2005 and a<br />

moderate drought in 2007-2008.<br />

But the same results could have been forecast from<br />

lunar records. <strong>The</strong> combination of average sunspot cycle<br />

periodicity and the cycle of Jupiter is about 35 years. <strong>The</strong><br />

<strong>Moon</strong>’s cycle of 29 days and the sunspots’ rotation of between<br />

24 and 28 days can be confused together. Without<br />

wishing to cast aspersions on the clearly successful work<br />

done by the Crohamhurst Observatory, I think it is worth<br />

pointing out that the Sunspot-Jupiter-Saturn effect, which<br />

uses records of similar rotation periods, could be shown<br />

to if not actually be <strong>Moon</strong> cycles all along, at least be par-<br />

130

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