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China plans to use chemicals to generate rain to protect its grain harvest (npr.org)
13 points by NoRagrets on Sept 19, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 6 comments


More details here: dated 25 Aug.. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-26/china-dep...

[..]China is using two massive drones to seed rainclouds in Sichuan province to try to end a devastating drought that has choked power output and disrupted supply chains of global giants like Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc.

The China Meteorological Administration launched drones in northern and southeastern Sichuan on Thursday morning, and the aircraft will eventually cover an area of 6,000 square kilometers in operations lasting through Monday, state-owned CCTV reported. [..]

[..]Seeding works by dropping an ice-forming agent like silver iodide into a cloud that already contains ample moisture. Rain droplets gather around the agent, gaining weight until they begin to fall. China has a long history of using the technology to water crop fields, cool blistering cities and make sure skies are clear for events like the Olympics.[..]


It said the next ten days and that was almost a month ago. Can anyone comment on whether it worked?

Also, what the specific water retaining chemical in this instance is?


The googles don't have much to say. Try this query:

"china cloud seeding results"

What I got was lots of hits about how China was going to build a weather modification infrastructure - something like half dozen or more years ago.But, the hits continue with more recent ones about how they are going to do more seeding.

Still, is it safe to infer from any lack of evidence that it failed?

I don't know, but when you study those hits, you do find hits which suggest that cloud seeding doesn't work.


Weather app says China got 0.2 inches rain in the past 24 hours. And 92 percent humidity. How to look up weather data from a few weeks ago?


Watching the world fall apart is like watching a slow motion car wreck


What could go wrong.




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