California, on track for record dry year, is ready to seed clouds

[xchrom]

http://grist.org/news/california-on-track-for-record-dry-year-is-ready-to-seed-clouds/

?w=470&h=265&crop=1

California, already parched and fire-scorched following two consecutive snow- and rain-deprived winters, is on track to experience its driest year on record.

“It’s absolutely dry,” Bob Benjamin, a National Weather Service forecaster, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We just went through October where there was no measurable precipitation in downtown San Francisco. That’s only happened seven times since records started.” From the article:

The state’s reservoirs are all well below their normal carrying capacity, according to Arthur Hinojosa, the chief of hydrology and flood operations for the California Department of Water Resources.

“Generally speaking, it has been dry across the state, and it has been remarkably dry where the population centers are and where the bulk of the water storage is,” Hinojosa said. “Most operators plan on multiyear dry years, but nobody plans on as dry as we’ve seen.”

[Control-Z]

1. I'd never heard of cloud seeding.

Had no idea we could control the weather. Republicans will implode when they find out!

[mopinko]

3. it just makes water in the clouds coalesce around a crystal and fall.

if the water isn't there, if the clouds aren't there, then you can't make it rain.
more like making the rain go where you want it than actually "making rain."

[Galileo126]

2. It started in the late 1940s

Usually seeded with either dry ice (frozen CO2) or silver iodide crystals (AgI).

And, it works. Personally, as a SoCal resident, I'm all for it. We...need...rain...!!

[phantom power]

4. Assuming they do this, and it works, who starts getting less rain downwind?

[Nihil]

5. Oh hush you and your long term thinking ...

The first one to the resource obviously deserves it!

Go Tribal Tool-Monkeys Go!