John H. Tice

John Hower Tice, known as John H. Tice, (1809–1883) was an American weather forecaster, educator, and author.

Professional life

Weather

Tice was "a student of the phenomena of cyclones, and promulgated the theory that they were entirely different from disturbances in nature known as hurricanes." He claimed to base his predictions on the movements of the planet Mercury and the hypothetical planet of Vulcan. His general idea was that he could determine mathematically and with scientific accuracy the relations of every planet, including the earth, to every other and to the sun, and to calculate the relations of all these to periodicity in storms, earthquakes, the changes of season . . . . His reward in his own generation, however, was almost necessarily the reputation of being "queer," or, as it was sometimes expressed, a "little off." After his time as editor of The Missourian, he was editor of the newspaper The Democrat and was called "The Sage of Cheltenham" for his ability to predict the weather, and his self-education and mastery of Euclid, Algebra, history and Entomology, as well as being fluent in German, Spanish and French languages, and the ability to read Greek and Latin.

Personal life

Tice was born in 1809 near Hagerstown, Maryland, and was educated in Fredericksburg, Maryland. He moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1840. He lived in the Cheltenham neighborhood.

He died of "senile debility, with congestion of lungs" on November 30, 1883, in Callaway, Missouri. He predeceased his wife, Marion, and was survived by three daughters and one son. He was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis.