China claims to have induced snowfall?

This is simply ludicrous. China now claims to be able to manipulate the weather? It seems to me that the government is simply plotting to reassure millions of Chinese people ravaged by the numerous recent natural disasters (Sichuan earthquake and now a drought). As the 1.3 billion people look to the government for a myriad of services and resources, and to act as a central source of stability and progress, when such unpredictable and unpreventable phenomena occur, the firm control that the government has on many aspects of Chinese lives no longer seems so present or relevant. I think that in an effort to reassure the people of China that the government is acting to counteract even the very weather that sometimes plagues its people, and thus seems to willingly lie about the ability to control the weather.

This is simply despicable and absurd. The days of propaganda still live strong and continue to prey on the masses by manipulating the scientific ignorance of many people concerning the obvious impossibility of such claims.

Sci-fi tends to predict some inventions before they come into existence like Cellphones.

So on that thought it could be possible that they did it.

But I have to agree it does seem that it would be used just to get people to trust the government more.

I seem to remember them clearing out the smog for the Olympics. Maybe its the same technology, just more magical.

Cloud seeding is actually a very complex process. In the simplest terms, it introduces other particles into a cloud to serve as cloud condensation nuclei and aid in the formation of precipitation. There are three types of cloud seeding: static mode, dynamic mode, and hygroscopic seeding.

Static mode cloud seeding seeks to increase rainfall by adding ice crystals (usually in the form of silver iodide or dry ice) to cold clouds. Dynamic mode cloud seeding increases rainfall by enhancing "vertical air currents in clouds and thereby vertically process more water through the clouds." Basically, in this method of seeding, a much larger number of ice crystals are added to the cloud than in the static mode. In hygroscopic seeding, salt crystals are released into a cloud. These particles grow until they are large enough to cause precipitation to form. Clouds can be seeded from above with the help of airplanes that drop pyrotechnics, or from the ground by using artillery or ground-to-air rockets

http://ask.yahoo.com/20020920.html

if this is true, then we really know the truth about Katrina too...and that means George Bush really doesnt care about black people =x

YEA! I SAID IT

I doubt that china has weather manipulating technology. I know that nations have the ability to effect the weather to a certain degree, but controlling the weather is a whole other story.

Weather control experiments have been going on for over a hundred years. The U.S. government started experimenting with cloud seeding in the 1950s to produce rain over the southwest and again during the Vietnam War to create monsoons over enemy positions. The experiments were abandoned because it became a costly project that never produced conclusive results as to whether it had even worked.

Are you kidding me? We've been hearing about weather manipulating since the '60s, right? Or did I dream that? I thought it was absolutely do-able.

Sorry- just read the last post...

The main issue with cloud seeding is that there has to already be significant cloud formation to begin with. They can't make clouds, so they are not actually controlling the weather, they're just taking advantage of cloudy conditions by forcing them to drop their moisture when they otherwise might not. .

I don't see how this is so unbelievable.... it's a proven technique based on simple principles and it's been around for some time now. They just don't use it very much because it's expensive and depending on the conditions, it isn't guaranteed to work every time. Of course in the face of increasing droughts I might expect to see more of this in the future.

Messing with nature, great job China. Induce a global catastrophe that much sooner.

After Katrina a local weatherman in Idaho Falls got on air and displayed how the hurricane was man made. He was instantly offered a job elsewhere and hasn't been on the news since. He didn't get fired because they let him tell all on air without interruption.

As far as controlling the weather, "Ishmael" anyone?

I'll go with @simplecj's comment.... it's CLOUD SEEDING to promote rain, not RAIN-MAKING where there are no clouds, except maybe in some movies.

hell, some old western movies in the US had that theme, of a snake-oil-equivalent salesman trying to rip off the drought-stricken towns by claiming to be able to make it rain.

and just as important, known as the "Law of Unintended Consequences," for all of you who worry at night about these things, if china made it rain "here" there's probably some "THERE" that didn't get the rain they would have otherwise.

is that good or bad. if THERE is Louisiana, it's maybe not such a big deal. if THERE is parts of Australia, think again.

just like wind-farms and ocean-current turbines... if you extract energy from part of the world's systems in one place, that energy does NOT get to be delivered somewhere else.

gulf stream turbine farms off the US coast might cause long-term climatic cooling for Great Britain and Scandanavia and Iceland.

willing to take the responsibility for that?

didn't think so.

willing to think about those consequences?

didn't think so....

and AM, those last items were there for ALL readers and NOT directed at you.

its not really a new technique and the Chinese are just going to spread this around to exaggerate the power the Chinese government really has. Still, you should be proud my fellow US citizens, our tax dollars and personal debt helped pay for this, what with all the money we owe to China.

Yo - I think you are growing a third eye...

Yeah - Cloud seeding...

influencing the weather and climate isnt magic... or let me guess you guys dont believe in global warming?

personally, I dont think china should be doing it because we already have enough things going on with our climate, all we would need now is to have another el nino change the weather patterns again.

Gross.

Anybody here read Frazier's The Golden Bough?

In it he cites what he called 'sympathetic magic.'

An example.

A young African boy climbs to the top of a huge tree. He carries with him a large rock. The rock is lashed to a tree branch exposed to the sky.

From below him a container of water is lifted to his position. As prayers begin he sprinkles water over the rock and asks the sky to notice.

His purpose? He is showing the sky his people are desperate and need rain.

For centuries and probably millennia people have tried to negotiate with the elements, for several reasons

- legitimate concern over survival
- an entrepreneurial desire to rise in status for being seen as the go-to person to intercede with the heavens
- lack of any better knowledge.

The China of today is a dictatorship in which tens of thousands of annual riots occur. Land theft, privation, corrupt officials, forced relocation, and a thousand other ills have pushed the Chinese population to the brink. Had the number of riots Beijing expects occurred here - we'd define it as a civil war.

Now they can invent "snow"?

Oh, sure. And next they'll flip the magnetic poles and shift the equator.