Artificial Snowstorms Wreak Havoc in Beijing

[4EverHis]

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Chinese scientists have artificially induced the second major snowstorm to wreak havoc in Beijing this season, state media said today, reigniting debate over the practice of tinkering with Mother Nature.After the earliest snow to hit the capital in 22 years fell on November 1, the capital was again shrouded in white yesterday with more snow expected in the coming three days, the National Meteorological Centre said.

The China Daily, citing an unnamed official, said the Beijing Weather Modification Office had artificially induced both storms by seeding clouds with chemicals, a practice that can increase precipitation by up to 20 per cent.The office refused to comment on the report when contacted by AFP.Yesterday, an official had said the storm was "natural."

City weather officials have previously said that such methods are aimed at alleviating a drought over much of north China, including Beijing, that has lingered for more than a decade. But residents have griped about the flight delays, traffic snarls, cancelled classes and other inconveniences of a surprise snow storm, saying officials could warn them if they are planning to toy with the clouds.

Beyond the day-to-day hassles, experts said the weather manipulation had other undesirable side-effects in the longer term, the paper reported."No one can tell how much weather manipulation will change the sky," Xiao Gang, a professor in the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the paper.

"We should not depend too much on artificial measures to get rain or snow, because there are too many uncertainties up in the sky."Zhao Nan, a Beijing engineer, was quoted as saying the more than 5,500 tons of erosive snow-melting chloride used on city roads yesterday — nearly half the annual allotment — could "erode steel structures of buildings."

In 2005, the snow-melting agent was responsible for killing 10,000 trees in Beijing and decimating 200,000 square metres of grassland, the paper said, citing official statistics.

Continued...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...est=latestnews

[In Christ]

Well... Hmmm... I guess this renders capturing tainted snowflakes on your tongue a pretty bad habit...

[Resting]

Yuck.

[drjoshua]

I'm waiting for scientists to invent a clap-on clap-off for snowfall.

[Paul]

That's just incredible. What is our world coming to?

[twisty58]

People playing God. I agree. What IS this world coming to?

[Tall Timbers]

I'll bet the 30 or so million Chinese who use bicycles to get around in Beijing are real happy about the snow...

[john boland]

I wonder if any of the artifical snowflakes has an identical twin snow flake?

[twinters]

Cloud seeding is fairly common. We've been using it in the US (California, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah) for quite a few years. It's been in use since after WW2. I believe the practice and discovery of the "how-to" originated in Australia.

edit: I looked it up. We've been using cloud seeding here in Colorado since 1977 and went into full force during the drought periods of the 90s and first half of this decade. During the winter it causes it to snow more and during the summer it can cause a cloud burst which results in rain. there's been a few dozen studies on the environment and health impact, both of which say the results are negligible. The fallen silver iodine cannot be measured against the background and while the reports all say that the silver itself can be harmful with repeated exposure, the amount used is less than what is placed in a typical tooth filling and 100x less than the industrial waste output from a factory over a single day.

[mom4Yehoshua]

I visited China and I have in-laws who live there. And from the experiences I have been told and have seen, I am pretty darn sure that many of the Chinese people in Beijing have no idea that the snow is hazardous. Many of them are not educated and the government is not about to tell them the truth. Especially if it brings dishonor to their government. KWIM? If you hear about people getting very ill, don't be surprised if it is because they allowed their people to be hurt, for the government's benefit. This is JMHO

[icebear]

I visited China and I have in-laws who live there. And from the experiences I have been told and have seen, I am pretty darn sure that many of the Chinese people in Beijing have no idea that the snow is hazardous. Many of them are not educated and the government is not about to tell them the truth. Especially if it brings dishonor to their government. KWIM? If you hear about people getting very ill, don't be surprised if it is because they allowed their people to be hurt, for the government's benefit. This is JMHO

what is it in the snow that is harmful?

[mom4Yehoshua]

what is it in the snow that is harmful?

http://www.rr-bb.com/showthread.php?...ght=China+snow

If you look through this thread, there are reasons I believe to be that the chemicals could be potentially hazardous...of course manipulating nature with chemicals is in the long run nasty business. IMHO

[Phillip_19]

http://www.rr-bb.com/showthread.php?...ght=China+snow

If you look through this thread, there are reasons I believe to be that the chemicals could be potentially hazardous...of course manipulating nature with chemicals is in the long run nasty business. IMHO

So it's like an advanced form of chem-trails or something?

[twinters]

So it's like an advanced form of chem-trails or something?

You can shoot it from the ground (like is done here in Colorado) from a gun-like device or in the form of a vapor accelerated by a fan, like the ones used to make snow, or you can seed it via airplanes. This is really not a huge deal. It's been going on for 1/2 a century and used heavily here in the United States.

[chrisb01]

What benefit could they get from snow?

I think it is another 22 Lb. baby.

[RosettaLuv]

I'm not sure I like the idea of tinkering with the weather. Isn't that God'd job?

It is His job, but yet again mankind is trying to be like God and take His roles on Earth. The snowstorm served them right for trying to be like God.