China Vows to Stop the Rain 214
Since the Olympic stadium doesn't have a roof, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau has been given the task of making sure the games remain dry. According to Zhang Qian, head of weather manipulation (best title to have on a business card ever) at the bureau, they've had success with light rain but heavy rain remains tough to control. I see a hurricane cannon in some lucky country's future.
What in the hell? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Rain's better than smog (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Action/Reaction? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What in the hell? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Is it just me (Score:1, Informative)
Nothing new for the Chinese (Score:5, Informative)
The technique is simple: Detect in advance the clouds which could cause rain in Beijing, then send airplanes to spread special dust particles to cause those clouds to rain immediately, thus "empty" them before they reach Beijing.
I'm quite convinced the Chinese aren't the only ones who's done this.
Re:Rain's better than smog (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Nothing new for the Chinese (Score:2, Informative)
Not that much rain to begin with (Score:2, Informative)
They do *make* it rain by exploding these sulfer/salt bombs though. It covers car in this yellowish coating sometimes.
Before big visits it always rains for a couple of days before because they're doing this sort of thing. Then when the visitors arrive it's blue skies all round