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Los Angeles to Fight Drought With 'Cloud-Seeding' »

Posted by: Neophile 2 months ago

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Eight hundred thousand dollars should buy a lot of water. But in Los Angeles county, where a recently declared drought is starting to bite, lawmakers plan to spend that much firing silver iodide particles into the sky in the hope of boosting rainfall by as much as 15%.

Read Full Story at guardian.co.uk

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ZiegfeldGirl2 months ago

I find this very interesting. Growing up in So. Cal, water conservation was a constant topic. In school they lectured about turning off the tap while you brush your teeth, how to take a "military" shower (turn the water off while you suds up, shampoo, condition etc. only have it on to rinse), wash your car with a bucket of water, never the hose. Some years we had scheduled days that we could water the lawn. Crazy. There has always been talk of cloud seeding, but I've never heard of them using it successfully. One of the downsides I see is that you need clouds first, and in southern california, those aren't always easy to come by. Great for going to the beach, not so great for your front yard.
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ZiegfeldGirl2 months ago

Found this:
Cloud seeding experiment has thundering success
By Aftab Kazmi, Bureau Chief
Published: May 08, 2008, 00:09
Al Ain: Tuesday's thunderstorm in the western and southern parts of the emirates was a result of a cloud seeding (artificial rain) test conducted by the weather authorities.
The storm produced intermittent rain in parts of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It was a surprising phenomenon in the late-spring month of May for the public and some weathermen.
An official of the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) on Wednesday confirmed the centre had carried out cloud seeding tests on clouds that came in from southern Saudi Arabia.
Residents and weathermen were baffled by the occurrence of thunderstorms in May.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Nation/Environment/1021...

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mackiemesser2 months ago

And we're having almost daily thunderstorms in the DC area so that we're way over the normal amount of precipitation for the year. Talk about the fickle finger of Nature!
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  TweekerchickQC2 months ago
  
  No Kidding.
  I was in Martinsville Indiana during that little fun bout of flooding.
  Im glad I got home in time, or else you would've seen my 7 pound dog floating along somewhere barking every 10 feet.
  
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globalwarmer2 months ago

I live in LA, what's a cloud?
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newbie04202 months ago

Doesn't silver iodide turn your skin blue if you absorb too much? Silver oxide?
Either way I don't think this is a really good idea.
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Teech2 months ago

What good will this do? L.A. does not have any significant water storage facilities. It will, however, give them more water to hose down their pool decks, driveways, and patios. That's a good thing.
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