This story is certainly tragic…and odd
(from the AP/MSNBC):
BEIJING – Unusually early snow storms in north-central China
have claimed 40 lives, caused thousands of buildings to collapse
and destroyed almost 500,000 acres of winter crops, the Civil
Affairs Ministry said Friday.
Nineteen of the deaths resulted from traffic accidents
related to the storms that began Nov. 9, the ministry said in a
statement on its Web site.
The snowfall is the heaviest in the northern and central
provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong and Henan since
record keeping began after the establishment of the Communist state
in 1949, the ministry said without giving detailed figures. It
estimated economic losses from the storm at $659 million.
Chinese state media say some of the snow was induced
through cloud seeding, although the precise amount of snowfall in
all areas was not reported and it wasn’t clear what the previous
records were.
For the whole story, click here.
So the obvious question is: what in the heck is cloud seeding?
In simple terms, it’s the spraying of silver iodide aerosols or
dry ice “in the upper levels of the clouds to stimulate the
precipitation process”. Of course, seeding is man-made. Someone has
to physically fly a plane over a mass of clouds and spray
chemicals into them. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but it can be
done.
So why exactly was cloud seeding occurring in China? A little
while back I talked about Russia’s Mayor authorizing a spreading of
chemicals into the atmosphere to limit the snow in Moscow, but it’s
interesting we’re hearing about the reverse happening. Is it smart
for man to intentionally manipulate the weather? Maybe those
participating in the seeding process think they have control over
the weather, but what plays out afterward is all a coincidence?
Maybe seeding has no effect at all.
Too many questions here. But it sure sounds fishy that cloud
seeding would be involved…
Thoughts?
Matthew Leach
Forecasting Kitsap
Questions? Comments? E-mail me at: forecastingkitsap@live.com
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