01-July-2004, 09:39 AM
http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/wspace?

What I find important is the alignment of the planets with each other with respect to the sun (Heliocentric) and when also in line with the center of the milky way. These effects are related to magnetic flux strength, which has some effect upon the global weather patterns on ALL of the planets. If you watch the dust storm patterns on Mars for several years, Mars has severe dust storms every time it gets passed by the Earth. Or when ever it laps one of the outer planets.
http://nova.stanford.edu/projects/mgs/dmwr.html
http://arc.iki.rssi.ru/eng/index.htm
http://www-mgcm.arc.nasa.gov/MGCM.html

And from the last link.....
LARGE DUST STORM SWALLOWS MARS
June/July, 2001: Beginning in mid-June, 2001 a region of increased dust abundance began to appear in the Hellas Basin. This activity persisted for over a week until June 26 when the storm began to intensify and expand.
Earth had a heliocentric conjunction with Mars on June 13th 2001, while both of them were in opposition to Jupiter with in the next 48 hours. All in line with the sun and the center of our galaxy.


If someone with a good working knowledge of calculator with scientific notation, Watts/meter^2, or would whip out a slide rule and figure the net electrical power involved in the inter action of the solar wind with say a conservative 6 earth radii. In terms of Gigga watts per hour, or whatever values applies, might put this argument into prospective, rather quickly.... Values for the parameters could be found at several links I already posted. Speed in Km per second, X density about 1 electron per cm^2, X cross sectional area of 6 Earth radii= Wattage x10^???

Nice graphics for those that learn visually
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publ...me.html?272004
3D View of a Coronal Mass Ejection. 8)

I invoke "Fair Use" to quote the following archive extracts.

"Solar Activity and Terrestrial Thunderstorms," New Scientist, 81:256, 1979.
Data collected from electrosondes (balloons measuring atmospheric electrical currents) over the Antarctic ice caps infer that solar flares stimulate large surges in the flow of electrical charge from the upper atmosphere to the earth's surface. Because this unidirectional flow of fair-weather electricity must ultimately be balanced by thunderstorms somewhere on the planet, it follows that the frequency and severity of terrestrial thunderstorms are dictated, at least on the average, by solar activity. Formerly, global circuit theory had it that the thunderstorms themselves were the driving force behind the fair weather current flow. Now it seems that the sun calls the tune and that thunderstorms do not arise at random."

"Do Cosmic Rays Trigger Lightning Discharges?" New Scientist, 77:88, 1978.
"Science has long claimed to have the explanation of lightning discharges well under control. But the discharge paths followed by lightning strokes often seem unnecessarily tortuous when more direct routes are readily available. The mechanism by which large reservoirs of unlike charges are built up is also obscure. Cosmic rays have now been proposed as both a source of charged particles and a provider of low-resistance ionized conduits for lightning to follow. Primary cosmic rays carry considerable energy, most of which appears near the earth's surface in the form of cascades of secondary particles that create complex ionized tracks as they penetrate the dense lower atmosphere. Lightning bolts would tend to follow these precursors along their crooked trails."

(http://radarmet.atmos.colostate.edu/...esday-a1.htm)?

Seems that current research still considers electrification to be the result of thunderstorm formation, not the cause. "...For reasons that are not widely agreed upon, a cloud-to-ground lightning flash originates in this mixed water and ice region...!"

This seems to be a fairly typical textbook explanation, missing out, as ever, the reasons for the charge accumulation.

Even granting, for the moment, that "electric weather" is worth considering, its value in weather forecasting needs to be demonstrated (as an "interesting hypothesis," it does little or no practical good). Exactly how do we forecast the occurrence of thunderstorms, using the electric weather/universe approach? What about other types of weather? So I have spent 30 years and thousands of dollars, getting my site on line, to find out for my self.

Electricity and weather are inextricable linked. But electricity does not necessarily cause local weather to behave in a certain way since there are many other stronger factors. But it does influence global weather, which in turn influences local weather. This view accords with a recent report (17 November 2003) in Geophysical Review Letters by Joseph Dwyer of the Florida Institute of Technology, which says that according to conventional theory electrical fields in the atmosphere simply cannot grow large enough to trigger lightning. “The conventional view of how lightning is produced is wrong.” And so “the true origin of lightning remains a mystery.”
The article goes on to say that differentials may trigger lightning, although they are not responsible for the charge build-up. This is not the view of conventional meteorology, sure, but maybe this will change...

But to completely ignore the effects of electricity on weather, when (a) the Earth is being hit by 50 to 100 thunderbolts per second, (b) the upper atmosphere is carrying million ampere currents (c) the atmosphere has a vertical electrical field of up to 100 volts per meter, seems to me to be a little short-sighted. [Reference: The Earth's Electrical Environment (1986) On line in full (http://www.nap.edu/books/0309036801/html/)]

(So far as I know) I am about the only person to spend 25+ years looking at Lunar declinational tidal effects as "The main meridional forcing mechanism of the atmosphere." I think that in finding the proof of the connections between the Solar wind variations, global weather patterns, the electromagnetic interactions of the solar wind with the planets, lies the key to solving the long-term modeling problem's and providing answers that work.