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China Shoots Down Bad Weather

High-tech program controls climate, plays rainmaker.

By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 13, 2007 5:30 PM CDT

(Newser) – China has a solution for its unpredictable weather: create its own. The county is toying with the world's largest weather modification program in terms of size, budget and equipment. The original idea was to ease droughts and improve harvests with man-made rain, but the program has evolved uses in fighting fires and even heat waves.

Farmers outside Bejing shoot chemical pellets filled with silver-iodide particles at clouds using anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers. The program's ultimate challenge is looming: Chinese officials say they're determined to ensure pleasant weather when the Olympics kick off in Beijing in August '08.

Lights come on in buildings as central Beijing is cloaked in darkness during a rainstorm at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 27, 2007. Beijing 2008 Olympics organizers said Wednesday that they would have a better weather forecasting system than any previous Olympics Games. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
Lights come on in buildings as central Beijing is cloaked in darkness during a rainstorm at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 27, 2007. Beijing 2008 Olympics organizers said Wednesday that they would have a better...   (Associated Press)
Lights come on in buildings as central Beijing is cloaked in darkness during a rainstorm at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 27, 2007. Beijing 2008 Olympics organizers said Wednesday that they would have a better weather forecasting system than any previous Olympics Games. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
Lights come on in buildings as central Beijing is cloaked in darkness during a rainstorm at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 27, 2007. Beijing 2008 Olympics organizers said Wednesday that they would have a better...   (Associated Press)
A fireman puts out a fire on a bus in Fuzhou, in China's eastern Fujian Province, Wednesday, June 27, 2007. All of the 20 passengers on the bus were able to escape the fire without injury. According to the local fire control department, the number of spontaneous ignition fires involving...
A fireman puts out a fire on a bus in Fuzhou, in China's eastern Fujian Province, Wednesday, June 27, 2007. All of the 20 passengers on the bus were able to escape the fire without injury. According to...   (Associated Press)
A Chinese Long-March 4B rocket, carrying the Fengyun 1-C weather satellite, blasts off from the Taiyuan, China satellite launch center in this May 10, 1999 file photo. The Fengyun _ Wind and Cloud _ 1-C weather satellite was long a star of China's space program. Launched in May 1999, it...
A Chinese Long-March 4B rocket, carrying the Fengyun 1-C weather satellite, blasts off from the Taiyuan, China satellite launch center in this May 10, 1999 file photo. The Fengyun _ "Wind and Cloud" _...   (Associated Press)
Storm clouds gathering.
Storm clouds gathering.   (Shutterstock.com)
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