The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)(about) |
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Monday 11 December 1882
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THE RAINFALL AND TUS
AURORA.
In The Argus of Juno 2-1 an articlo was published apropos of the drought which had recently broken up, in which an interesting theory concerning Australian climatic changüí was investigated. The theory ia that certain changea m the condition of the sun, asso dated with the occurrence of solar spots, and producing disturbances of the terrestrial mug netiem (the outward and visible sign of which is the appearance of more or lees brilliant auroras), havo a sensible influence upon the character of our seasons. An un usually brilliant display of the Aurora Aus trnlia haB been BO often followed by rainy and broken weather us to suggest that there is somethingmoro than coincidence in tho occur renee at about the same timo of tho two sets of phenomena In tho article to which we refer the account was carried back for 21 years It waa shown that the winter and autumn of 18r)8 had been unusually dry , that in October of that year a most brilliant dis play of the Aurora Australis occurred ; and that shortly afterwards very heavy raine fell, continuing throughout the Bummer. Tho rainfall from November to December amounted to 10m -moro than double the average of those months, and equal to one third of the total rainfall of the year Again, in 1870 the summer and autumn had been unusually dry, scarcely any rain having fallen in February and March, but in the beginning of Aprila very brilliant aurora was witnessed, which was followed immediately by heavy rains and broken weather, winch continued until almost tho end of the j ear. Thes0 facts wero reviewed by Mr Ellery, tho Go \crnmcnt astronomer, in a paper read before the itoj al Society on the 12th of September He remarked that ho had frequently noticed that bright auroral displays wore followed by what IB called "bad weather"-storms ol wind with thunder and ram This had ap peared BO marked that he had sometimes found himself unwisely venturing a prediction of bad weather simplj because of the occur renee of an aurora. 1 ollowing up this theory we were able to show that the phenomena of 1870 wero repeated in 1882, In April last, Victoria and the othor Australian colonies wero suffering from a long and diBOBtrouB drought 'lowarda the middlo of that month spots of au enormous BUS were observed upon the sun'a disc, and simultaneously there nero violent disturb unces of the earth's magnetism throughout Australia and New Zealand-disturb tuces so powerful as to interrupt and in somo cases absolutely to prevent the working of the telegraph lines These phenomona were most marked on tho 17th aud 18th of April, and were followed in a few dajs by general rama in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, the Bouthern portions of Queensland, and also in New
Zealand
Since then we have had further examples of the association or coincidence of solar and terrestrial phenomena On October 2 thero waB a very brilliant aurora, which was viBible for several hours, and there were further display s on the Oth and 7th. Almost comcidently eevere thunderstorms and galea were experienced in several of the country districts, and in Riverina, followed by Bteady rain. Later in the month thero was u further and still heavier fall of rain through- out the colony. Heavy rain also fell in l.ivenna, ond the ram waa general through- out New South Wales In some of the country districts of Victoria no euch ram had been experienced for many years, aa much as three inches having fallen in some of the drieat districts withm a fo v days At Port land and W arrnambool there was a violent galeof w ind,which caused considerable damage to the shipping, while at Inglewood, Sand- hurst, Bridgewater on Loddon,and Rochester hailstorms of extraordinary violence were experienced At Bridgewater the storm raged for 20 minutes, during which period thero waa a continuai shower ol ice, many of the pieces measuring an inch and a half lu length, und weighing eixteen ounces The early part of November was abnormally hot, the tom peratuie for five days ending with the 8th ben g lOdeg higher than that usually met with A change shortly afterwarda occurred, and it waa reported from diatncta far inland that the coldest weather ever ki own at that period of the year had been felt On the ICth a Bevere eanhquake was reported from Wood's Point, ai d on the evening following the Aurora Australia again appeared with great splen- dour, the light being Bufiiciently strong at timfs to render the Btars of the Southern Creas almost invisible It waB reported at the same time from the Melbourne Observa tory that a violent magnetic storm was racing comcidently with the appearance of one of the largest sun spots that baa been observed for a long time The epot was so largo that it could be distinctly Been with the nuked eye OB the aun set Tho magnetic in Btruments at the Melbourne Observatory wero greatly disturbed, and the work mg of the telegraph lines was interfered with On the 20tb thunderstorms were re ported from all parts oí tbe country, which were followed by heavy rain, not only in this but in the other colonies Again, on the 27th and 28th there wero severe thunder- storms and rain, the downpour being BO violent as to jeopardise the crops in some districts There was also heavy rain in New South Wales, South Australia, and Central Australia At Port Augusta, in South AUB tralia, nearly Dm of rain fell in t.vo treraendouB thunderstorms, causing Hoods, which washedaway a portion of the railway line. The unusual weather has been carried into December. On the Oth one of the heaviest thunderstorms ever recorded m Melbourne took place, ljin. of rain falling ia one hour Some of the Melbourne streets and the low lying portions of the suburbs wero under water. In the country the rain WOB also oi» ceedingly heavy, causing Hoods in several places, and damaging the railway lines and embankments, There waa also more or leas rain in New South WaleB and South Aus- tralia. Since then the weather has been very unsettled, and it still continues eomowhat
uncertain.
The contrast between the weather ex- perienced before and after the appearance i f the aurora ia illustrated by the record of the rainfall at theMelbourne Observatory. During the first three months of the year-the period immediately preceding the first auroral dis- play-only 152in, fell, nearly 3in, below the average. The recorded rainfall up to the end of last week amounts to 2107m. OB compared with the average of 24 28iu , BO that the deficiency of Oin. has been reduced to 2. ulm. AB waa aaid on a former occasion, meteorology as a ecieuce has to take into ac- count so many elements of uncertainty that it is not Baie to draw positive deductions even from the moBt striking facts. It cannot yet be Bald that great solar perturbations and consequent disturbances of the earth's mag- netism, as indicated by the appearance of the aurora in the sky, will be invariably found to precede stormy and rainy weather, but the tacts we have cited Beem to establish some sort of connexion between the solar pheno- mena and meteorological changea, and are well worthy of Btudy,