Rain, Snow or Neither? Your Choice

If you remember the '90s (and everyone remembers the '90s) then you also may remember that incredibly annoying Alanis Morissette song "Ironic." (face it, you remember that awful song). It's ironically non-ironic lyrics include the line: "It's like raaaaayyyaaaane on your wedding day." Truthyfully, rain on my wedding day wouldn't be ironic; it would just plain suck. It would be worse than listening to Alanis Morissette.

But if I had access to the Chinese government's awesome rain modification technology, I wouldn't have to deal with rain ever again. Or snow. Or maybe even hurricanes or tornados. But it doesn't take secret oriental technology to change the forecast as the concept weather modification predates the 1990s by 400 years. In 1590 Norway and Scotland, 100 people were arraigned as 'witches'; accused of producing a series of storms in an attempt to sink King James VI's flotilla. Many of these people signed confessions and were executed.

Though not as easy as stirring up a storm with witchcraft, it seems, weather modification has become a contemporary technology.

As with many technologies, weather modification's origins are cloudy'. Hail cannons are devices that produce shock waves to disrupt the formation of hailstones in the atmosphere. They're employed by farmers to protect crops and they've been used since at least 1901. The cannons have a limited range and must be activated before the storm arrives, but if used correctly they turn the hailstones to rain and slush. The science behind hail cannons is flaky however, as powerful thunder does not affect hailstone development and disproving the cannons is nearly impossible. That does nothing to dispel their manufacture and sale, however.

Similarly, in 1953 Wilhem Reich invented orgone accumulators. 'Orgone' is Reich's theory of a universal energy life force (so no, not exactly 'scientific'). These devices drew orgone out of the atmosphere to produce clouds and rain. There are anecdotes of his device's authenticity and the designs were under the close scrutiny of several government agencies. Reich also claims to have used these devices to shoot down UFOs. A judge later demanded Reich's orgone accumulators be destroyed, and no research has been invested in orgone since Reich's death.

The first example of reviewable, induced precipitation occurred in 1946 when researchers dumped dry ice into a cloud in eastern New York; snow later fell on Mount Greylock in Massachusetts. This process is known as cloud seeding and dry ice, silver iodide or salt is dispersed into very cold (but not frozen) water vapors to attract water molecules. These heavier particles then form precipitation. Dry ice and silver iodide are used to freeze molecules and form snowflakes, while salt is used to form raindrops. There have been questions raised regarding the health implications of cloud seeding, but silver iodide has been proven to have a minimal effect on the environment.

The U.S Air Force executed Project Popeye during the Vietnam War. For five years beginning in 1967, the Air Force seeded clouds over Laos and western Vietnam to increase the monsoon season from 30 to 45 days. The operation was carried out to "make mud, not war" and slow down Vietcong infiltration along the Ho Chi Mihn trail. This is the only known instance of weather warfare, but the potential dangers of this technology are multitude. As such, 76 nations have ratified the U.N.'s Environmental Modification Convention to ban the use of weather control techniques during warfare.

Despite this treaty, there has been speculation that the U.S. and Russia have developed electromagnetic systems to induce temperature and physical changes in the ionosphere. In Alaska, the U.S Air Force maintains HAARP, a series of high-powered antennas composing the world's largest radio broadcasting station. Yet this project is not used for communications or music, but to concentrate powerful radio waves at spots in the ionosphere. By heating the ionosphere this antenna can change jet streams and rain storms, and even steer hurricanes or leak cosmic radiation. It could be the newest weapon of mass destruction, as it would weaken economies, ecosystems and morale. The U.S. military ascertains that it is solely for research, but I'll let you decide on the conspiracy theories.

Today, cloud seeding is peacefully used to break droughts in countries such as China, India and the U.S. About a third of Texas regularly employs cloud seeding, and China famously employed it during the 2008 Summer Olympics to ward off storms during competitions. The Beijing Weather Modification Office employs 37,000 people across China to alter weather for firefighting and storm control. They also made New Year's 1997 particularly memorable with a fresh snowfall. Cloud seeding has been used in the Rocky Mountain since at least the 1950s to drive tourist seasons.

Research has been much more progressive in initiating weather than preventing it. Stopping destructive hurricanes is the clearest objective of weather-stopping technology. Dyn-O-Mat, a company based in Florida, has produced a product called Dyn-O-Gel which they claim absorbs 1,500 times its own weight in water, and upon reaching the ocean surface this polymer would dissolve completely. Seeding hurricanes with this gel would supposedly slow the storm or even expend it. It has not been proven but seems more promising than other ideas proposed, which include seeding hurricanes with soot, slicking the ocean surface with oils, and using jet engines to separate volatile storm formations. Some months ago Chelsey H also wrote about preventing hurricanes.

Weather modification will surely remain controversial so long as this technology improves, especially in classified environments such as HAARP. Fundamentalists argue that humans have no place in fluctuating an environment already in transition from pollution and disregard. Many religious leaders argue divinity only has the capability of influencing climate. Many witches argue that rainstorms are good for business--it keeps them from being burned at the stake (or perhaps, unfairly weighed against a duck).

It seems as though complete control over the weather is just beyond or grasp, but humanity is slowly developing what is called "perfect golfing weather everyday." For now, Storm, a member of the X-Men, is the only person who has perfected weather modification.

Resources

(Image credits: Intimate Weddings; Witchcraft and Witches; Boing Boing; Reich Chemistry; Super Force; Time; Katrina NOAA; Gamernode)

Wikipedia - Weather modification; Cloud seeding; Hail Cannon; North Berwick witch trials; Operation Popeye; Environmental Modification Convention

Global Research - Weather Warfare...

ABC News - Scientists Seed Clouds to Make Rain