Earthquake Weather

My favorite paragraph of fiction on the topic of earthquake weather was written by Amy Hempel, formerly of Claifornia (see below). My favorite paragraph of non-fiction on on the tipic of earthquake weather was written by John McPhee in his book Assembling California:

"People who live in earthquake country will speak of earthquake weather, which they characterize as very balmy, no winds. With prescient animals and fluctuating water wells, the study of earthquake weather is an a category of precursor that has not attracted funds from the national Science Foundation. Some people say that well water goes down in anticipation of a temblor. Some say it goes up. An ability to sense imminent temblors has been ascribed to snakes, turtles, rats, eels, catfish, weasels, birds, hares, and centipedes. Possible clues in animal behaviour are taken more seriously in China and Japan than they are in the United States, although a scientific paper was published in California Geology in 1988 evaluating a theory that ‘when an extraordinarily large number of dogs and cats are reported in the ‘Lost and found’ section of the Sand Jose Mercury News, the probability of an earthquake striking the area increases significantly.’"

John McPhee, Assembling California, NY: FSG,1993, page 260.


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