"Because clouds are boundless, weather control is boundless."

December 22, 2011 10:32 PM

Five regional weather control programs in northeastern China seek to increase precipitation by 10 percent.

See Beijing Weather Modification Office (previously)

posted by jeffburdges (16 comments total)

Oh fuck.
posted by LordSludge at 10:35 PM on December 22, 2011

I hope they succeed. All sorts of crap blows from northeastern China to Korea and Asia. Hopefully the rain will cause it to stay in China.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:37 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Because clouds are boundless, weather control is boundless.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:38 PM on December 22, 2011

...do they have a fully functional weather dominator? I hear there are some costumed terrorists from the '80s who'd love to unload theirs.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:52 PM on December 22, 2011

(But to be fair, that whole scheme didn't work out so well for them.)
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:53 PM on December 22, 2011

As extreme weather events such as drought and flooding become more common, protecting the nation's main wheat producing areas grows in urgency

Invest in food.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:48 PM on December 22, 2011

Is there any evidence that cloud seeding actually works? It says in the articles that China generates fifty billion cubic metres of "artificial" precipitation a year, but I'm not sure how they can tell natural rain from induced. Weather is just too variable.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:04 AM on December 23, 2011

This is the way the world as we know it, ends. To think that altering the weather will actually "improve" conditions in the long run is perhaps the ultimate expression of civilization's technological hubris.
posted by Perko at 12:33 AM on December 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

When in doubt, throw bags of cement out of an airplane.
posted by ethansr at 12:40 AM on December 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

In the end we'll have to alter the global "weather" if we're going to survive, but it's a really difficult problem that will no doubt require all our technological savvy to accomplish. I don't think the Beijing Weather Modification Office is accomplishing much with their rockets and chemicals, except maybe giving people another reason to curse the government. When there's bad weather in China, at least people have someone they can blame...
posted by Kevin Street at 1:54 AM on December 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Cloud seeding with silver iodide works, and the discovery of its effectiveness was in no small part due to Kurt Vonnegut's brother, Dr Bernard Vonnegut.
posted by The Ultimate Olympian at 2:37 AM on December 23, 2011

When in doubt, throw bags of cement out of an airplane.

At least it's not live turkeys....
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:40 AM on December 23, 2011

In the mid-2070s, weather control nanomachines were released into Earth's atmosphere and oceans in an attempt to reverse global warming. In late 2076, some of these machines became sentient and stopped obeying orders. In response, more intelligent machines were released in an attempt to control them. By July 2077, a total of eight layers of machines had been released, but the weather continued to get worse. At this point the nanomachines started eating everything in the sea to fuel themselves. They then moved to land, and on 27 July, digested humanity.
(Prologue to Alastair Reynolds' Century Rain)
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:09 AM on December 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Anyone know what countries will see less rainfall in consequence? Mongolia, Korea, Japan, and Russia, yes? Anyone think India, Tibet, Kazakstan, Philippines, or S.E. Asian nations will be effected?
posted by jeffburdges at 6:04 AM on December 23, 2011

That was my first thought, jeffburdges. Farming in Japan is kind of rainy season dependant. Another country trying to hog the rain is much like a country trying to dam an important river, diverting much needed water from reaching other countries downstream.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:22 AM on December 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Cloud seeding is not new (it's been going on for decades), and not only used in China (also N. America, Europe, Australia, and Africa). Wikipedia has an article.
posted by Houstonian at 6:30 AM on December 23, 2011