The moon goes around the Earth, as well as coming in closer, and this week it‚Äôs New moon and the second closest distance to Earth for the whole year. Imagine the moon continually sidestepping a sort of track like a monorail. And when it is mid-track we call it a ‘node’, being more focussed and in a direct line. It’s the difference between shooting at something from the side or front on. The node makes events happen. With weather, moisture can be gathering and temperature dropping, and when a node arrives, a developing cold front will deliver rain. So when New Moon, perigee, real closeness of perigee and node all come together, it gives much more potential for earthquakes, strong winds, highest tides for the year(which we are having this week), and extreme wintry weather.
And here’s how it went. On Sept 4th the moon hit node at 3.37am, an hour before the quake 4.30am. To compare, the 3 Feb 1931, Napier earthquake occurred at 10.30am Рthe node was at 9.21am, also an hour before. In 1886 the Mt Tarawera eruption that knocked out the Pink and White Terraces Рthe node was on 2 June, also New moon and perigee, and the earthquake then did the initial damage. The Murchison earthquake at Inangahua in 1968? The node had arrived the previous day and new moon 3 days later.
A node comes around about every 13.5 days. The danger this time will be all over when factors all go their separate ways which will be by Thursday, so aftershocks may continue until the end of the week.
Other events that have had these moon factors in the same combinations have been the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake (also an N+P event), the 1992, Christchurch Big Snow (N+P), and, still perigeal/apogeal; the 1968 Wahine storm, the 1979 Mt Erebus crash, the 1953 Tangiwai disaster, the 1963 Kaimai air crash, the 2004 Asian tsunami, and the 2009 Samoan tsunami.
But why absolutely no warnings from scientists? Anyone could see it coming – tremors were popping since 28 Aug, showing the faults getting switched on by the moon as it swept by every day. The shakes were around Rotorua and BoP on 30 Aug, then shifted down to Marlborough and Picton, some 4-mag on the Richter scale, then to Arthurs Pass and the West coast around 1 Sept, then one in Haast – edging south. Then Otago and Wanaka got hits on 3 Sept, in the 4-mag range, showing the activity to be firmly in the South Island. The next day Canterbury received the 7- mag jolt.
The seismologists must have seen activity heading south, and if they had added-in the moon factors of new moon+perigee+node they would have realised a big something was going to pop off when the node was due.
Another factor – August 10th-11th was the last new moon/perigee (but not as close) and on that day a 7.5mag earthquake hit Vanuatu and several smaller ones struck Wairarapa, Te Anau and Fiordland. Once again they drifted south after the 8 August node. October 6th-8th also brings a perigeal new moon, with the next node within range on the 10th.

This is all very well to say this…however if it is only a very slim chance then comments like this are not appreciated as it just adds to the level of fear that already exists down here! Can we somehow find out what the chances of that happening are? 5.4 was big enough. Peoples hearts cant take too much more.