Weatherwatch: Forecasting’s astrological origins

<p>Weather forecasting was still banned under the 1735 Witchcraft Act when the Met Office was founded in 1854</p><p>Forecasting the weather used to be less scientific and more magical, to the point that practitioners could be accused of witchcraft.</p><p>The mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria drew up tables of planetary motions in the second century. Ptolemy was a notable pioneer in astronomy, but went too far in his conclusions about planets influencing our atmosphere. He <a href="https://archive.org/details/ptolemystetrabib00ptol/page/66/mode/2up">devised a complex set of calculations</a> to determine their supposed effects on the weather, in a branch of astrology known as astrometeorology.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/sep/11/weatherwatch-forecasting-astrology-science">Continue reading...</a>