PHILADELPHIA — The namesake for this county, Benjamin Franklin made an important weather discovery this day 249 years ago. Franklin had intended to observe a lunar eclipse over the skies of Philadelphia but was foiled by clouds and rain, said state climatologist Mary Knapp. However, Franklin’s brother in Boston saw the eclipse until clouds closed in and began raining about an hour later. Franklin realized that storms could move from south to north along the coast, she said. Conventional wisdom then was that storms only moved from west to east and Franklin’s observation encouraged researchers to take a closer look at storm and weather patterns, she said.
Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2 p.m.
