Earthquake weather Earthquake weather Earthquake weather is a type of weather popularly believed to precede earthquakes. Since ancient times, the notion that weather can somehow foreshadow coming seismic activity has been the topic of much discussion and debate. Geologist Russell Robinson has described "earthquake weather" as one of the most common pseudoscientific methods of predicting earthquakes. Aristotle proposed in the 4th century BC that earthquakes were caused by winds trapped in subterranean caves. Small tremors were thought to have been caused by air pushing on the cavern roofs, and large ones by the air breaking the surface. This theory led to a
Foehn wind it expands and cools due to the decrease in pressure with height. Since colder air can hold less water vapour, moisture condenses to form clouds and precipitates as rain or snow above the mountain's upwind slopes. The change of state from vapour to liquid water is accompanied by heating, and the subsequent removal of moisture as precipitation renders this heat gain irreversible, leading to the warm, dry foehn conditions in the mountain's lee. This mechanism has become a popular textbook example of atmospheric thermodynamics and it lends itself to attractive diagrams. However the common occurrence of 'dry' foehn events, where