Wind Velocity - Gales and Tornadoes

Wind Velocity - Gales & Tornadoes

Severe Gales in the UK

Severe gales are a fairly common feature in the United Kingdom more especially during the autumn and winter months when from time to time an Atlantic depression can gather itself up and bring much disruption and havoc to large parts of the British Isles.
There are five Gale events I would like to focus upon. These are the "Great Storm" that occurred on the 25th November 1703 with a great loss of life and extensive damage and by all accounts the greatest storm ever known in this country, the so-called "Hurricane" that hit South East England in the early hours of the 16th of October 1987, probably the severest gale of the 20th century, the more widely destructive gale of 1990 on the 25th January which covered a larger proportion of the UK again causing much disruption, I have also included the lesser gales of 1930, 16th December, and the gale of 1993 which occurred on the 13th January.

Astrometeorology defines Mercury as the planet of wind; the mercurial mind as relating to human intellect and the rapid nerve transmission in the brain can be seen in the atmospheric condition as rapid air movement. The first thing we need to do is see what the last Mercury ingress chart was doing before the storm event itself then we can introduce more charts to add to the jigsaw, in Mundane work no one chart is good enough to determine the eventual outcome.

Just looking at the last Mercury ingress charts before the event we find:

1703…AS = Libra (air) IC = Capricorn
1930…AS = Leo (fire) IC = Scorpio
1987…AS = Libra (air) IC = Capricorn
1990…AS = Gemini (air) IC = Cancer
1993…AS = Libra (air) IC = Capricorn

We see that the AS is predominately air, air being the traditional windy element. The aspects to Mercury reveal a heavy configuration with Jupiter and Pluto plus Mercury is seen contacting the ascendant in all but one of the gales. Therefore the stage is set for some turbulent activity sometime between the present ingress to the next ingress.

Mercury synods to SA/UR/NE/PL

Mercury to the conjunction of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto before the storm event, may well denote the type of wind force that may eventually work out into the environment, for example the Mercury -0- Uranus chart may tell us something about sudden squalls or violent gusts, with Mercury -0- Saturn telling us that a steady increase in wind strength reaching gale force over a period of time is more likely. These charts I examined in light of the above mentioned storms, the results are shown below.

Planets in angular location 8 degrees either side of an angle, planet(s) in (…) indicate those in angular houses using the placidus house system. The first three are recorded as the most severe gales in the UK.

Mercury -0- Saturn:
1703 - Sun/Jupiter/Pluto
1987 - Sun/Neptune (Uranus)
1990 - Jupiter/Uranus/Neptune (Moon Mercury/Saturn)
--------
1930 - Venus/Uranus/Neptune (Mars Mercury/Saturn)
1993 - Mercury/Saturn (Neptune)

Mercury -0- Uranus:
1703 - Saturn/Neptune (Sun)
1987 - (Mercury/Uranus/Saturn)
1990 - Moon/Mars/Saturn/Pluto (Venus)
-------
1930 - (Venus/Mars/Pluto)
1993 - Neptune (Moon/Mercury/Uranus)

Mercury -0- Neptune:
1703 - Moon/Venus
1987 - Mercury/Neptune (Sun/Jupiter)
1990 - Moon/Pluto
--------
1930 - Mercury/Neptune/Jupiter/Uranus
1993 - Jupiter (Saturn)

Mercury -0- Pluto:
1703 - Jupiter (Moon/Uranus)
1987 - Mercury/Pluto
1990 - Venus/Jupiter/Saturn/Neptune (Moon)
--------
1930 - Venus/Mars/Mercury/Pluto (Saturn)
1993 - Mercury/Pluto (Moon)

Perhaps the most important points about these charts is the placement of the Mercury -0- SA/UR/NE or PL on an angle; 3 in the Mercury/Saturn charts, 2 in the Mercury/Uranus charts, 2 in the Mercury/Neptune charts and 3 in the Mercury/Pluto charts. This doesn't tell us very much but does show that these Mercury planetary configurations have a potential for working out into the physical level.

Secondary prog. (Q1) from Mercury synod charts (-/+ 3 days) using AS, MC & AS/MC

Since transits are fine when dealing with longer time intervals, when it comes to shorter durations such as a month or so the method I have found the most useful, especially in regards to the angle movement, is the progressed mean Quotidian or Q1. This method moves the angles by approximately 1 degree per day, since I find the angles are essential in the timing of events and are more personal to the specified location than the more global planetary contacts.

Now we have to see if any of these charts can work out physically through our progression techniques to the event Sunrise chart, the day of the storm. We are here using only the progressed angles from the prime Mercury synod charts with the aspects in the 8th Harmonic series (0-45-90-135-180) all within 2° orb.

1703 ME/SA - AS(p)=MO=NE=SA - AS/MC(p)=MC=PL
1987 ME/SA - AS(p)=UR=PL - MC(p)=SA
1990 ME/SA - MC(p)=SA - AS/MC(p)=MA
-----
1930 ME/SA - AS/MC(p)=UR=MC
1993 ME/SA - AS(p)=SA - AS/MC(p)=SA

(4 ME/SA=SA )

1703 ME/UR - AS(p)=MA=NE - AS/MC(p)=PL
1987 ME/UR - AS/MC(p)=UR=PL
1990 ME/UR - AS(p)=JU=MA=NE - MC(p)=MC
-----
1930 ME/UR - AS(p)=UR=MA
1993 ME/UR - AS/MC(p)=MO
(2 ME/UR=UR)

1703 ME/NE - AS(p)=MO - AS/MC(p)=UR
1987 ME/NE - AS(p)=NE - MC(p)=SA
1990 ME/NE - AS(p)=UR - AS/MC(p)=MC=SA
-----
1930 ME/NE - AS(p)=VE - MC(p)=UR - AS/MC(p)=VE
1993 ME/NE - AS(p)=MA=PL - MC(p)=NE - AS/MC(p)=SA
(2 ME/NE=NE)

1703 ME/PL - AS/MC(p)=MA=NE
1987 ME/PL - AS(p)=NE - MC(p)=JU
1990 ME/PL - MC(p)=SA=NE - AS(p)=MC
-----
1930 ME/PL - MC(p)=UR - AS/MC(p)=UR
1993 ME/PL - AS(p)=JU=PL - MC(p)=MO - AS/MC(p)=NO
(1 ME/PL=PL)

We find in the Mercury-0-Saturn charts that the progressed AS and MC (or A/M mp) angles are hitting Saturn (Mercury and Saturn) in the event chart in four out of the five charts, which includes the three most severest. This suggests that the Mercury -0- Saturn chart is powerful and that there is an indication of a weather pattern which steadily produces ever increasing low pressure systems which gradualy deepen which ultimately produce storms or gales.

This is a classic Saturnian result giving heavy overtones in the atmosphere. Though we shouldn't dismiss the other Mercury charts, for instance in the Mercury-0-Pluto the three strongest gales all have progressed angles to Neptune, which hints at a possible "block" to the air circulation and the creation of a pool of cyclonicity in which depressions can give birth, but the last Mercury-0-Saturn charts should take, in my view, priority over the other Mercury synods.

Before we leave these Mercury conjunction charts there is another Mercury chart that seems interesting and that is the synod of Vulcanus one of the transneptunian planets advocated by the German astrologer Alfred Witte. Vulcanus represents "great energy, power and force" and we find in the three severest gales the planetary picture:

Mercury+Vulcanus=Moon "the public under the impact of...an enormous might."

By this I mean that the quotidian progressions AS-MC and/or A/M were touching the Moon in the Mercury conjunct Vulcanus chart, thereby by inference we have Mercury/Vulcanus with the Moon.

If we once again use the quotidian angle progressions from the Mercury -0- Vulcanus charts to the gale event we find that the angles are contacting Neptune in all 3 of the severest gales with the angles contacting Saturn in 2 of the lesser gales.

Mercury -0- Vulcanus

Quotidian (Q1) progressed angles (AS, MC & A/M)
(8th Harmonic series)
1703 ME-0-VU - MC(p)=NE
1987 ME-0-VU - A/M(p)=NE
1990 ME-0-VU - AS(p)=NE
1930 ME-0-VU - AS(p)=SA
1993 ME-0-VU - MC(p)=SA

These Mercury -0- Vulcanus may be a further valid chart to work with, but as ever, needs further investigation.

Last Sidereal Sun Ingress: secondary prog. Angles (Q1) from last Sun ingress prior to event

Here we are using the last sidereal Sun ingress and from their using our quotidian progressed angles to the event chart or day of storm.
8th Harmonic series
1703 - MC(p)=MA
1987 - MC(p)=MA
1990 - MC(p)=MA
-----
1993 - No Mars
1930 - A/M(p)=MA

The most prominant picture that emerges is that Mars is hit 4 out of the 5 gales, I have excluded the other contacts which are varied, to show more clearly this interesting Mars effect, Mars by its very nature would indicate violent conditions.

Sun Ingress capsolar

Now to add the picture together we must include the all important main ingress chart which is the Capricorn ingress or the capsolar which usually controls the overall picture, either weather or other mundane events, for the whole year ahead. We will use a different approach this time and use the transiting midpoints to the capsolar angles. We find that in the three severest gales the transiting Sun/Neptune midpoint (SO/NE) is contacting the capsolar angles:

Transit m/p to Capsolar angles

1703 - SO/NE (sunrise) = MC (capsolar)
1987 - SO/NE (sunrise) = A/M (capsolar)
1990 - SO/NE (sunrise) = AS (capsolar)

The sunrise chart is used in Vedic astrometeorology as a way of determing the weather for the next 24 hours, and this shows that there is some validity in this method, and with the SO/NE midpoint=angles on the day in question there would be "chaotic conditions" or a "negative environment".

Therefore we can see that several charts need to be looked at in order to understand the overall picture. These are the Mercury planet synods more particularly the -0- with Saturn, the last solar ingress whichever that may be, and finally the base ingress the all- important capsolar chart, all these charts can be progressed using the quotidian method which show the angle contacts to the day of the event, in this case severe gales.

Storm chart - Mars-0-Uranus 28th June 1703

The Mars -0- Uranus chart showing interactions with other UK storms

The reason for using this chart as a prime storm chart is the close connection between Mars -180- Uranus in the event chart for the "Great Storm" of 1703 which when digressed to the Mars -0- Uranus shows many pertinent connections to the other two major gales of 1987 and 1990 as well as the 1703 event.

The MA -0- UR chart has Mercury 8 degrees separating from this conjunction, Mercury being our key wind planet, the Mercury midpoint tree structure has ME= MA/UR -90- VU (Vulcanus) which according to Witte's Rules "…exposed to violent acts of others…to live in a dangerous environment…victim of violence…", as the storm of 1703 claimed 7,000 lives and untold damage to port and land this seems quite an apt description.

Taking the event chart for 1703 we find that Mercury is exactly -0- on the MC of the MA-0-UR chart and using our secondary progressed method (Q1) we find that on this date the MA-0-UR Asc has progressed exactly to Mercury -0-, a dual actionary event which increases the validity of this chart being important for gales. And If go further with our progressions and look at the 1987 and 1990 gales which caused millions of pounds worth of damage as well as loss of life, we find in the 1987 gale that the progressed AS was -22.5- (16th) from the MA-0-UR chart with the A/M (midpoint) progression -0- on the MA/UR in the 1990 gale event. Looking at the chart will hopefully make these points clearer.

It is also interesting to see that in both the 1987 and 1990 gales that the North node is contacting the MC/IC axis which denotes that communication and interaction with people is severely disrupted the MC tree has MC=Hades/Vulcanus "dependant on natural forces" and that Pluto and Mars (1990 and 1987 respectively) are both exactly on this MC point which refer to "destructive and evil forces" which can't be lightly put aside, though Witte's terminology must not be taken too literally!.

Though this 1703 MA-0-UR chart may be powerful in its working, the other MA-0-UR charts must also be taken into account, for instance taking the last MA-0-UR before 1987 and 1990, we find that both Mercuries in the event chart (sunrise) are contacting the AS of the previous MA-0-UR chart.

Tornadoes

Tornadoes originate from intense thunderstorms or deep cold frontal systems. The US has probably the greatest volume of tornadoes in the world, but other parts of the globe are also prone to these natural catastrophic events. The British Isles especially England for its size has around 40 reported tornadoes per year, though not as violent as the mighty vortexes in the United States.

From various sources ("Climates of the British Isles - past, present and future" and "The Weather of Britain") I found 12 important tornado events that took place in England, these are listed below:

South Wales - 27th Oct. 1913.
Birmingham - 14th Jun. 1931.
Buckinghamshire to north Norfolk - 21st May 1950.
Chesterfield - 19th May 1952.
London - 8th Dec. 1954.
Woking - 21st Jul. 1965.
Coventry - 21st Apr. 1968.
London, Barnet - 29th Nov. 1970.
London, Upminster - 25th Jan. 1971.
Newmarket - 3rd Jan. 1978.
Record outbreak 105 tornadoes - 21st Nov. 1981.
Southern England 22 tornadoes 21st Sep. 1982.

Sunrise charts

Using the sunrise chart for the event day I found 5 Neptune's and 4 Saturn's exactly aspecting an angle, so the day itself in somes cases had the potential for atmospheric disturbance (Neptune - Saturn).

Using these sunrise planetary degrees to the UK 1801 chart, see article "Interaction with UK charts", I found the following:
Sunrise Planets to 1801 UK chart (8th harmonic series orb 4d)

5 Moon, 5 MC and 5 Pluto to 1801 Uranus/Vulcanus 9° Virgo/Pisces
6 Mars to 1801 Pluto 10° Aquarius
6 Mars & 5 Uranus to 1801 Hades 5° Scorpio
5 Uranus to 1801 Sun 18° Sagittarius
6 Asc- Sun to 1801 (64th) Mars 7° Libra

Sunrise Midpoints to 1801 UK chart

Number of midpoints to UK Chart (4th harmonic series 3d. orb)
4 VE/PL Transit midpoints to UK 1801 (radix) Uranus/Vulcanus 9° Virgo/Pisces.
4 PL/MC Transit midpoints to UK 1801 (radix) Jupiter 10° Cancer.
5 AS-SU/MA Transit midpoints to UK 1801 (64th harmonic) Jupiter/Neptune 3° Capricorn.
5 SA/PL Transit midpoints to UK 1801 (64th harmonic) Pluto/Admetos 28/29° Gemini.
4 AS-SU/JU & 4 VE/PL Transit midpoints to UK 1801 (64th harmonic) Uranian point "Destructive power of nature" 11° Virgo.

Last Solar Ingress before the event

Looking at the angular positions Pluto comes to the fore with a score of 8, quite a large number which hints at the potential destructiveness. Looking at the UK 1801 64th harmonic chart Pluto is at 28° Gemini, in the solar ingress charts SA/PL has 4 contacts to Pluto's placement. Also the Uranian point of "destructive power..." in the UK chart is being hit 4 times by the solar ingress PL/MC midpoints.

Last Capsolar Ingress before the event

Planetary aspects to angles orb 2°:
Mars=5
Saturn=5

Planet on angle orb 8°:
Mars=6
Pluto=5

I will now use three examples to show the deeper linkage between these tornadic events, the largest outbreak on the 21st November 1981, the Birmingham tornado on the 14th June 1931 graded F6 on the TORRO scale*, and the South Wales tornado also graded F6 with associated violent thunderstorms with hail on the 27th October 1913. *TORRO or the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation has developed a Tornado Intensity Scale which classifies each tornado with a strength index from F0 Light to F8 Severely Devasting Tornado which is very rare for the UK - F6 is classed as a Moderately Devasting Tornado.

Capsolar ingress quotidian prog. A. M and A/M angles to event (sunrise) chart.

The South Wales tornado on the 27th October 1913 (F6) AS=Mercury/Saturn, AS=Mars/Saturn

The Birmingham tornado on the 14th June 1931 (F6) AS=Mercury/Saturn, AS=Mars/Saturn

UK Largest Tornado outbreak on 21st November 1981 AS=Mercury/Saturn

The progressed ascendant contact with the Mercury/Saturn midpoint is very descriptive of the wind circulation, in this combination the wind is increased to damaging proportions, also included in two events is the Mars/Saturn midpoint which adds to the damage and turmoil caused by these events.

Capsolar ingress quotidian progressed A. M midpoints to event angles to event planets.

The South Wales tornado on the 27th October 1913 (F6) Neptune/Mc=Uranus
The Birmingham tornado on the 14th June 1931 (F6) Neptune/Mc=Uranus
UK Largest Tornado outbreak on 21st November 1981 Mercury/Asc=Uranus

With Uranus there is a "Sudden event" which results in "chaos and disorder", which doesn't need further elaboration.
Last solar ingress quotidian progressed A. M midpoints to event angles to event planets.

The South Wales tornado on the 27th October 1913 (F6) Mar/Asc=Mars
The Birmingham tornado on the 14th June 1931 (F6) Mars/Mc=Asc, Saturn/Asc=Mars
UK Largest Tornado outbreak on 21st November 1981 Mars/Asc=Saturn

Here we have the combination of Mars and Saturn, again strife and lots of energy are given off in these tornadoes and so we can see that all three ingress combinations have there connectivity and symmetry.

Planetary contacts to sunrise angles orb 2°

Birmingham (F6) - Saturn
South Wales (F6) - Saturn, Uranus, Admetos
Largest outbreak - Uranus, Admetos

Admetos amongst some of its keywords is described as "rotation, circulation and separation...", all pretty good descriptions of tornado activity.

Planetary Cycles

Now if planetary cycles are interrelated to humanities evolution, be it subtly and at times unconsciously, we may perhaps refer these cycles to other earthly events that is climatic conditions. It struck me that the cyclic periods of the outer planets may well relate to certain specific weather conditions, in other words the conjunction of these planets may well denote areas in which weather related events can seen in respect to transits and directions. If we apply this to our current topic what better symbolism is that of the Jupiter-0- Uranus conjunction where uplift (Jupiter) is met with turbulence (Uranus), of course other keywords relating to these planets are well known by astrologers but we are here dealing with meteorological aspects and must keep to this avenue of terminology. In this example I will be using the largest tornado outbreak 21st November 1981 and the last conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus which occurred on the 20th July 1969 at around 07:52 GMT. This chart is set out below with the tornado event on the outside.

Jupiter -0- Uranus chart with Tornado outbreak sunrise chart contacts.

The contacts between the two charts:

Sunrise (event transits) to JU-0-UR chart
(sunrise) Sun/Asc/Uranus -90- Sun/Jupiter/Uranus=Sun/Moon=IC
(sunrise) Mercury -90- Saturn/MC
(sunrise) Mars -90- Jupiter/Uranus/AS
(sunrise) Jupiter -90- Jupiter/Uranus/MC
(sunrise) MC -0- PL

Also worth noting is the sunrise Sun and Moon midpoint within 8' square to the Jupiter/Uranus Midheaven midpoint.

Chaleta Bhava Kundali - The Diurnal Chart Predictive Method

This is an ancient Vedic system of prediction in which the planets etc, are subtracted from the exact ascendant degree, so for instance if my Moon is in Capricorn at 24°25' converted to longitude gives 294.25, and my ascendant is Gemini 14°26' (74.26) we have 74.26 - 294.25, here with the ascendant being less than the planet we need to add 360d to the ascendant longitude total which adds up to 74.26+360= 434.26, now we can subtract the Moon:

AS=434.26 minus Moon 264.25=170.01 converted to sign position gives us Virgo 20°01'

It's really quite simple to do this and takes less than a few minutes to convert all the planetary bodies to the ascendant co-ordinates.
In four major tornado events, which includes tornadoes from the US; Florida 22nd February 1998, Madison, Austin and the largest tornado outbreak in the UK on the 21st of November 1981, the results when converted to the Sun Ingress into Capricorn (Capsolar ingress) show that there is some aspects of this system worth exploring further, the results:

Capsolar converted to asc. Chaleta Bhava Kundali

Florida
Capsolar to Sunrise (event) chart
Moon=14 Aries -90- Uranus
Mars=15 Libra -90- Uranus
Neptune=8 Scorpio -90- AS/Sun

Madison
Capsolar to Sunrise (event) chart
Saturn=24 Aries -90- Jupiter
Uranus=7 Cancer -0- AS/Sun

Austin
Capsolar to Sunrise (event) chart
Saturn=25 Taurus -0- Venus -90- Mars
Uranus=23 Cancer -0- IC

UK outbreak
Capsolar to Sunrise (event) chart
Moon=23 Gemini -0- Saturn
Mars=24 Virgo -0- Saturn
Uranus=7 Sagittarius -90- Moon

There are contacts, to or from Uranus in all these major tornadic events, the turbulence and mayhem caused by tornados is very much a Uranian theme.

© Carl A Matthews 1998