Aristotle

Aristotle working with the 4 elements of the universe as conceived in his time- air, earth, fire, and water- pictured large masses of air or gases contained in subterranean cavities and heated to the point that they struggled to escape. This struggle and occasional escape, he believed, caused the shaking of the ground that produced earthquakes. Aristotle further expanded on the idea that prior to an earthquake the atmosphere became stifling because the air had been forced or taken into earth cavities in abnormal amounts. This led to the notion that the stuffiness that sometimes accompanies high humidity was a warning of an impending earthquake. The idea that there is such a thing as "earthquake weather" is still studied today yet, so far, there is no basis in scientific fact for this belief.