100 years ago today in Spokane: The planets aligned and the earth didn’t end

The world failed to end, despite the theories of a certain Professor Albert Porta.

He had predicted that a giant sunspot would develop on Dec. 17, 1919, possibly causing a profound disturbance in earth’s atmosphere. Catastrophic hurricanes, lightning, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes could ensue. The sunspot would be triggered, he said, by an unusual alignment of six planets.

Government scientists had refuted Professor Porta’s theory, pointing out that sunspots are not caused by the planets, but by internal conditions in the sun.

Still, the failure of the prophecy “was one of the main topics of discussion in the city today.” One Spokane man laid down a $1 bet, at 100-to-1 odds, that the world would end today – leading to questions about how, exactly, he planned to collect it.

Spokane residents had been a bit apprehensive, because Professor Porta had also predicted that the cataclysm would be preceded by bad weather. Spokane (and the entire Northwest) had been suffering through one of the coldest two weeks yet recorded.

However, the cold weather actually eased on the day of the so-called apocalypse. Temperatures crept up over the freezing mark and a cold drizzle fell.

The Spokane Daily Chronicle remarked that if Professor Porta had merely predicted “disagreeable” and “sloppy” weather, he would have been about right.

Porta, a San Francisco meteorologist, said that other people had greatly exaggerated his prediction and he was not surprised at the earth’s continued existence.