Ken Ring (writer)

Ken Ring is a writer from Auckland, New Zealand, who asserts that he can use lunar cycles to predict weather and earthquakes. He terms his predictions "alternative weather" and has authored books about the weather and climate. Ring publishes almanacs each year for New Zealand, Australia and Ireland in which he provides weather predictions for the entire year. His New Zealand almanac covers 64 towns. Ring's methods are unscientific and have been widely criticised as fake and pseudoscience by many scientists in the fields of meteorology and geology.

Ring says he predicted the 4 September 2010 Christchurch earthquake and the deadly 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. He also said there would probably be an earthquake in Marlborough or north Canterbury "just before noon" on 20 March 2011. This caused some residents to leave Christchurch and led to criticism from scientists and sceptics. Further research into his predictions showed that his forecasting record did not hold up under scrutiny.

Ken Ring has been a mathematics teacher, musician, actor, clown, speech therapist, private tutor to children with learning difficulties, teacher of English as a second language, and part-time teacher's college lecturer. He has used magic to teach children about mathematics, performing under the name "Mathman", and has written books on mathematics, magic, teaching and music. He also co-wrote a book on reading cats' paws, which he says was a joke.

Ring is known for attempting to predict weather and authors books on "how the moon affects the weather", which include an almanac each year for New Zealand (since 1999), Australia (since 2006) and Ireland (since 2010). He believes that the cycle of weather follows a lunar pattern and can be used to predict weather many years in advance. The lunar cycle occurs every 9 years, while the solar cycle repeats at 11 year intervals and by assessing the two Ring believes that the weather recycles through a 355-day cycle, a 19-year cycle, and a 36-year cycle. According to his website it is not an exact science - it's not scientific at all - and is opinion-based similar to economics or political science or astrology and his rainfall predictions can be out by 24 hours and a radius of 50 to 60 miles (80 to 97 km).

His New Zealand almanac covers 64 towns. He also writes columns for farming and fishing publications and is an on-call weather reporter for Channel 7's Today Tonight show. He says he has provided forecasts for specific events including the Melbourne Cup, Ellerslie Flower Show and the Auckland Santa Parade. Ring speaks at various business and media events and has produced long range weather predictions for the Gisborne City Council through to 2020.

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