Who'll Stop The Rain
I just read an article outlining how the Government of China plans to halt the rain over the Olympic Stadium during the Beijing Olympics.
Chinese meteorologists from the "Weather Modification Team" are planning to keep the open air stadium rain-free for the opening ceremonies on August 8th.
Most of us are familiar with the practice of encouraging rain through cloud seeding in order to address drought and the like. Want to buy a cloud seeder? Click here. The reverse practice is a little more exotic. According to the LA Times article it has something to do with shrinking the size of raindrops.
The Chinese take weather modification pretty seriously. The report notes that the group was founded in the 1980s and numbers some 37,000 people under its command. Among its equipment: 30 aircraft, 4,000 rocket launchers and 7,000 antiaircraft guns.
What are the anti-aircraft guns used for???
The Chinese are not alone in weather modification. There have been rumors for years that during the Cold War both the US and the Soviet Union were engaged in attempts to weaponize weather. That sounds a lot more sinister than providing a dry Olympic ceremony.
For anyone interested in really digging further you can visit the Weather Modification Association here.
Chinese meteorologists from the "Weather Modification Team" are planning to keep the open air stadium rain-free for the opening ceremonies on August 8th.
Most of us are familiar with the practice of encouraging rain through cloud seeding in order to address drought and the like. Want to buy a cloud seeder? Click here. The reverse practice is a little more exotic. According to the LA Times article it has something to do with shrinking the size of raindrops.
The Chinese take weather modification pretty seriously. The report notes that the group was founded in the 1980s and numbers some 37,000 people under its command. Among its equipment: 30 aircraft, 4,000 rocket launchers and 7,000 antiaircraft guns.
What are the anti-aircraft guns used for???
The Chinese are not alone in weather modification. There have been rumors for years that during the Cold War both the US and the Soviet Union were engaged in attempts to weaponize weather. That sounds a lot more sinister than providing a dry Olympic ceremony.
For anyone interested in really digging further you can visit the Weather Modification Association here.
Oh this drives me nuts! It is the 21st century. We are supposed to have flying cars by now and we should at least be able to control the weather by now you would think.
But no, we can't even predict the weather accurately at this point. It is a fairly deterministic system, yes it is very large, but we have the computer power these days to figure it out. We just have to make the effort.
My hat is off to the Chinese. They may have some issues with that whole human rights things. But they at least have the guts to try something most people say can't be done.
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I agree with foobar.
The Fed should allocate some money to this. It could help ski resorts maintain more predictable profits and provide better ski conditions throughout the season. Perhaps we should even use Utah and Colorado taxpayers money for the effort (are they doing anything useful with their tax revenue right now? probably not)
Not only could we use it for improving ski conditions, we could also weaponize it or use it in "humanitarian" missions. Example: Baghdad needs water. BOOM - MAKE IT RAIN!
Here's to every day being a powder day!!
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No question that taxpayer money is poorly used. Its the "Other Peoples Money" syndrome. Ask a politician to spend money from their own bank account for that museum they want to support and you will see different behavior.
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hi dad nice blog its awesome!
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What better comment could one get
Thanks Jonah.
Dad
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