Cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, is the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that

falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter
the microphysical processes within the cloud. The usual intent is to increase precipitation (rain or snow), but hail
and fog suppression are also widely practiced in airports.
The largest cloud seeding system in the world is that of the People's Republic of China, which believes that it
increases the amount of rain over several increasingly arid regions, including its capital city, Beijing, by firing
silver iodide rockets into the sky where rain is desired. There is even political strife caused by neighboring
regions, which accuse each other of "stealing rain" using cloud seeding. About 24 countries currently practice
weather modification operationally. China has used cloud seeding in Beijing just before the 2008 Olympic Games
in order to clear the air of pollution. Again, see above for disputes regarding the Chinese claims.
To increase precipitation in areas experiencing drought, to reduce the size of hailstones that form in
thunderstorms, and to reduce the amount of fog in and around airports in the United States, cloud seeding is used.
Major ski resorts occasionally use cloud seeding to induce snowfall. Eleven western states and one Canadian
province have ongoing weather modification operational programs. In January 2006, an $8.8 million cloud
seeding project began in Wyoming to examine the effects of cloud seeding on snowfall over Wyoming's Medicine
Bow, Sierra Madre, and Wind River mountain ranges.
Beginning in winter 2004, Snowy Hydro Limited is conducting a six-year research project of winter cloud seeding
to assess the feasibility of increasing snow precipitation in the Snowy Mountains in Australia. The NSW Natural
Resources Commission, responsible for supervising the cloud seeding operations, believes that the trial may have
difficulty establishing statistically whether cloud seeding operations are increasing snowfall.
In Southeast Asia, open burning produces haze that pollutes the regional environment. Cloud seeding is also used
to improve the air quality by encouraging rainfall.
The seeding process requires the use of a weather radar system and an aircraft equipped with instruments for
meteorological recording and seeding operation or artillery to fire the silver iodide shells. Qualified radar
technicians, engineers, meteorologists and pilots are also necessary.
Cloud-seeding technology is generally considered an expensive process, so it can only be continued as a regular
practice if it is efficient and effective.
Because cloud seeding is an "immature" technology, it has also generated a certain amount of debate. Some
people are afraid that large-scale seeding operations might have produced and continue to produce environmental
problems. Meteorological officials said cloud seeding efforts to enhance rainfall are being used in droughtstricken northern China every time clouds amass.
The increase in asthma and other chronic conditions plaguing our generation seems that we should be questioning
processes that were done in our lifetime such as cloud seeding, mass vaccinations, etc. that may have seemed like
a good thing to do at the time but may have resulted in unknown long term health affects.
I could have sworn I read that it was a widespread practice in China, so much so that they were fighting over who
owned the best clouds. They use artillery, rockets, and planes to deliver the chemicals.