The U.S.
Geological Survey’s website states it in no uncertain terms: “There is no such
thing as ‘earthquake weather.’”
Not too
surprising, right? After all, how could the seemingly insignificant stresses
imposed on the planet’s surface by mere weather instigate seismic shaking far
underfoot? (Meteorologists measure atmospheric pressures in kilopascals;
geophysicists measure tectonic pressures in mega- and gigapascals.) Earthquakes
and heavy rainstorms do occasionally produce comparable results on the planet’s
surface, devastating landscapes and impacting humans, but it’s hard to imagine
any more of a connection between such disparate phenomena. The physical
processes involved operate in different realms — below- versus above-ground —
and predominantly on very different timescales: Stress builds on faults over
the course of years, in some cases hundreds to thousands of years, whereas
storm systems persist only for days or, in the case of seasonal monsoons, a few
months.