The Weather of Mars

Mars was understood to be a ‘wet’ planet much like the Earth; at one point in its history. We are now starting to learn that a great cataclysm occurred and changed the face of Mars forever. 

It would be folly to speculate on the cause of the disaster without further learning from the Martians themselves but the subject seems to be a sensitive one and only Ebenezer Von Stypherdyk is close enough to the Martian elders to gain anything useful at this point. 

So, this being the case, let us discuss the current Martian weather systems. 

Mars is a mainly desert planet and is buffeted by high winds and regular sand storms, the harshest of which can last for days, if not weeks. As the vast majority of Mars is yet to be explored properly it is unknown whether the storms are planet wide but reports from the observatories on Earth seem to indicate that this might be the case. 

The majority of the sand on Mars is quite a heavy grain and so shouldn’t move around as much as the sand on Earth but with the ferocity and length of the storms there can be a risk of smaller settlements becoming buried. Indeed, there are rumours of large and ancient Martian city buried in the deep deserts and an expedition to discover this city has been muted by various powers. 

Of course, the wind does play a large role in several of the Martians transportation systems. Two trade winds have been identified so far and the City Martians use these to ply their wares between cities. The Sky Martian menace also use the winds to great effect when they mount their airborne skiffs and wreak havoc on the unsuspecting. Not all winds carry sand with them as some of the winds seem to keep high in the sky and not trouble the surface. The trade winds however do reach close to the ground and although they are not very strong they are steady and regular. 

Mars has seasons not dissimilar to those on earth but there is less of a variation in temperature and of course much less rainfall. It is understood that there are polar icecaps to the north and south and these are thought to keep the weather systems moving given that there are no large bodies of water on the surface. 

One strange fact to note is that the seasons on Mars last twice as long as they do on Earth, mainly because of the rotation of Mars around the sun takes almost two Earth years. This has proved a problem for the propagation and growing of Earth crops so regular supply runs are a necessary until such time as reliable crop yields can be substantiated. 

The Royal Meteorological Society are reported to be sending a team to Mars in the near future to study the weather more closely and getting a fuller understanding. They will be joining the Royal Interplanetary Society and the Royal Geographical Society in the university buildings in New Victoria.  

Once new information comes to light there will new reports on the matter.