[narism]

There is research that does show precipitation events might influence earthquake activity:

https://news.mit.edu/2024/study-heavy-snowfall-rain-may-cont...

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/200...

[genewitch]

i'll read those in a bit, but my theory was:

IF it rains a lot somewhere like a desert, the ground will absorb a lot of water, filling voids, washing areas out, including underground. If it then gets really hot and dry (you know, like a desert), suddenly that mud shrinks, the voids become larger, there's less friction. For sure, an earthquake didn't happen every time (or really any time in my memory) there was "earthquake" weather, but i'm guessing prior to the mid 80s it happened a few times and that's where the term started being spread.

What i don't like is instant ridicule for wondering if there might be something to it. It's not like the phrase "the devil beating his wife with a frying pan" as a synonym for a specific type of weather, even!