EQUINOCTIAL GALES

A POPULAR SELIEF

DISPKOVBD^BY METEORO-

LOGISTS

On Sunday, 23rd September, the sun crossed the celestial equator from the north on its annual journey to these latitudes, ushering in the period of spring. The moment of crossing is known as the spring equinox, and any spells of windy or rainy. weather within a week or ten days of that event are usually referred to as "equindctial gales." Storms of wind or rain are fairly frequent at all times of the year in New Zealand, and it is hardly likely that September of each year would disappoint those who anticipate an "equinoctial gale" as an inevitable event each season. A recent issue of the "New York Times" contained a lengthy article on this subject, the writer declaring that the equinox storm was a myth. "Popular belief that the equinoxes of both spring and autumn are particularly stormy periods of the year rose at a time when astorology passed for sound science," he says, "and all things terrestri.il were supposed to be governed by the movements of the heavenly bodies. There are many allusions to the belief in classical literature. Catullus, for example, refers to the caeli furor aequinoctialis—the raging of the equinoctial sky. '"The notion flourishes to-day in Western Europe, particularly in the British Isles. Several references to it in English literature are cited in the New English Dictionary, the earliest dating from the middle of the. eighteenth century. A variant of the belief is found in Western England, where people talk of 'Michaelriggs' —strong winds supposed to prevail about Michaelmas (29th September). '"?he American conception ' of equinoctial storniß differs from that prevailing abroad. In this country we rarely hear of such storms occurring at the time of the vernal equinox—though the month of March as a whole has an undeserved reputation for windiness—but there is here a well-settled conviction that a single stormy period invariably occurs some time around the equinox in September. This tradition lias,been accepted at face value by our poets. Longfellow wrote:— When descends on the Atlantic The gigantic Storm-wind j)f the Equinox, Landward iii his wrath, he scourges The toiling surges. Laden with seaweed from the rocks. Whittier sang: ■Along their foam-while curves or shore They heard the' line storm rave and roar. • "In contemporary American verse the same notion crops up. Thus Robert Frost, in 'A Boy's Will,' wrote: The line-storm clouds fly tattered and swift, The road is forlorn all day. OLD RECORDS. "The history1 of the belief in this country was traced soinoyears ago by J. H. Morrison, who collected references to it in the newspapers of New York from the early part of the last century onward. A severe storm in September, 1815, which appears to . have . extended over the whole length of our Eastern seaboard, is referred to as "the equinoctial gale.' An item published in September, 1838, reads: 'Wo had yesterday one of the steady, soaking northeast rains which usually precede or attend the autumnal equinox.' In 1882, under the headline 'The Equinoctial Storm,' was printed the following: 'If the storm of the past few days was not the traditional line storm, which scientists inform us does uot exist, but which nevertheless appears just about this portion of the month, it resembled the genuiue article as closely as was desirable.' "The reference hi the last of these extracts of the sceptical attitude of science on the subject is interesting, because it antedates by two years a meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society in London at which for the first' time' statistics were presented showiug that in the.vicinity of the British Isles there is no special prevalence of stormy weather about the time of either the vernal or the autumnal equinox. The statistics were embodied in a paper read by the head of the British Meteorological Office, Dr. Robert H. Scott. HAZEN'S CONCLUSION. "A few years later a similar analysis of weather records was made in this country by Professor 11, A. Hazen, of the United States Signal Service, and a .similar conclusion was reached. Haven's report on this subject is published ill the 'Monthly Weather Review' for November, 1889. It includes curves based on the records of several representative stations in different parts of the country, showing the average inarch of wind force, rainfall, and storm frequency during the equinoctial months, and ends with the statement: 'The conclusion is inevitable that the observations do not show a preponderance of storm action ' during the equinoxes.' "Belief in equinoctial storms, is a fal- I lacy, but so far as it relates to the occurrence of such storms in September along the Atlantic Coast of the United States it has a grain of truth in it. . September is the month in which, on an average, West India hurricanes are most, frequent. When these tempests,' with their strong winds and torrential rains, sweep up the eastern border of the country they make an impression on popular memory that is not soon effaced. "Let us add that the name 'line storm,' used as a synonym of 'equinoctial storm/ is sometimes confounded with the term 'line squall,' applied ■to a well-recognised meteorological phenomenon, viz., a narrow trough of low barometric pressure, attended by squally weather, moving broadside over the country. The name refers to the linear shape of ■ the disturbance."