Predicting Weather By The Moon - Xavier University Libraries

Predicting
OTHER FORECASTING SYSTEMS
Many systems have been proposed and most will
work in their own way, once the operator gets in tune with
the system. The Herschel Chart was a forecasting device
put together by farmers in Europe nearly 400 years ago,
named after an astronomer-royal in England, Sir William
Herschel. He devised this particular methodology to predict
the weather long-range so he could arrange for his observing
sessions with the telescopes.
The Herschel Chart takes the time of change of phase
of the Moon and converts that to a prediction of the weather
over the next several days after the Moon changes phase.
The exact time of change of phase of the Moon is determined
by looking up charts 40 to 50 years in advance.
In America, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published
his own Poor Richard’s Almanac, predicting the weather
for 25 years from 1732. His average annual sale was around
10,000 copies. Franklin ridiculed astrological predictions,
yet reportedly kept careful daily weather records. His
method was lunar, and at that time it was usual practice for
people to carry pocket almanacs that carried daily weather
predictions, much as one would carry a pocket diary today.
Franklin was a scientist. Other scientists were doing
it elsewhere, too. In France, Jean Baptiste Lamarck issued
long range weather predictions based on lunar data in his
Annuaire Meteorologique from 1800 to 1811. And in Germany,
Rudolf Falb (1833-1903) became known as ‘the lunar
prophet.’
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