Weather conditions several hours before the strong earthquake

TL;DR

This study analyzes weather conditions prior to strong earthquakes, finding that most events are preceded by fair weather lasting over 7 hours, which could aid in earthquake prediction.

Contribution

It provides statistical evidence that fair weather conditions often precede strong earthquakes, highlighting a potential new indicator for earthquake forecasting.

Findings

96.7% of earthquakes had fair weather beforehand

Fair weather lasted more than 7 hours before events

Supports fair weather as a precursor in earthquake prediction

Abstract

Physical phenomena observed before strong earthquake have been reported over centuries. Radon anomalies, electrical signals, water level changes, earthquake lights near the epicenter are recognized as pre-earthquake signals to approach earthquake prediction. Anomalous negative signals observed by ground-based atmospheric electric field instrument under fair weather open up a new way to earthquake prediction. Abnormal heat radiation before the earthquake bring fair weather around the epicenter in theory. In order to figure out the weather conditions around the epicenter before earthquakes, 213 global earthquake events with magnitude of 6 or above from 2013 to 2020 were collected. Based on our definition of fair weather, in 96.7% of the events in the statistics, the weather before the earthquake is fair. Besides, the fair state before the earthquake lasted more than 7 hours, leaving us with enough early warming time.