We Can Control Snow Storms

By: K. Kemper

Wow, what timing! Denver International airport-snowed in for 1-3 days! What does this writer suggest can be done to remediate the situation? Actually many things!

First, while man can eliminate snow falling [but since it is an important component of natural weather cooling and thus, a supplier of inevitable ground and reservoir water], one should not do so!

However, what can we do if we find ourselves in a snow struck area and we want the blizzard to get past us quickly?

Before I make you laugh too much, let me give you a very specific example of this being done today on a much smaller, temporary basis.

Fifteen years ago, I was sent to work in Canada during January. I was unfortunately dressed for Los Angeles and was captivated by the snow on the ground as our little Dash 8 flew over the land at 2,000+ feet. We had 4 stops to make before the plane was due to land in Grande Prairie, Alberta, from Vancouver, British Columbia.

As the pilot flew near our airport, he discovered the clouds to be too dense and low to allow landing. So, he flew over the terminal, knowing his props would push the air out of the way for a few minutes. He needed only enough "window" to allow the plane to land with 200 ft from ground up visibility. [Put another way, he needed some visibility from the ground up through 200 foot, AGL, If snowed in cities would install monster wind tunnel fans at such locations where the snow is heaviest or the clouds are most thick, [like search lights focusing on the heavens during movie grand openings] and aim them upwards, all focused at the same place [ideally in the direction of the current wind] the fans can create a wind vortex and in a few hours, the snow and clouds will be reduced where the fans are focused. If enough fans are used, the entire area would be cleared up because the wind would now be hitting a resistance similar to cross- flowing airborne winds! These same fans can be used on top of mountains to expedite such re-direction of winds!

While I KNOW this will sound preposterous, it is a matter of physics and logic. All winds come from somewhere and are going somewhere-based on ground and air temperature and the speed of surrounding winds! We need to re-direct some of these winds. It could also help to change the temperature of the clouds which would re-create the rain that was above that changed to snow since the higher level air temperature was lower below the air that was above. Here is a link to a factual article and pictures of a wind tunnel.

http://observe.arc.nasa.gov/nasa/aero/tunnel/tunnel_parts.html

This same system, used in reverse, can help generate rain in desert areas!

And an Israeli approach to getting rain for the desert:

Israelis create 'rain making' machine NDTV Correspondent

Wednesday, January 14, 2004 (Jerusalem):

Israeli researchers are now working on a rain making machines to turn inhospitable desert land into fertile agricultural soil.

Israeli scientists of Russian origin claim they have the secret formula to turn the arid desert at Negev in southern Israel.

The researchers have been working on their project in Jerusalem's Hebrew University. The long-term goal is to turn the prototype into a contraption that can be flown through clouds and sow them to cause rainfall over deserts or other areas that need water.

For now the scientists have created an artificial cloud made up of tiny water particles so light that they float in the air. A special electrical appliance is used to charge up these particles so that they become bigger and heavier to fall on the ground as rain.

[http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Israelis%20create%20'rain%20making'%20machine&id=47365]