Sweltering Shanghai bids to make rain
Shanghai is trying to make it rain by firing chemicals into clouds in the hope of snapping an electricity-draining heat wave, but early attempts have largely failed.
Rain fell for about 20 minutes in the coastal district of Fengxian following an attempt yesterday, but temperatures below still hit 35 degrees Celsius (95F).
A first attempt last week was aborted after a cloud seeding plane ran into heavy weather and turned back.
Officials said they were still experimenting.
“The main aim yesterday was to get familiar with the whole process,” Wang Jin, an official with the city weather bureau said.
For decades, China has tried to make rain by firing shells containing silver iodide into clouds from ground artillery or planes.
The chemical helps attract water vapour that turns into rain drops, but scientists are not sure how effective the technique is at increasing rainfall.
Desperate for cooler temperatures, Shanghai has budgeted €448,000 for cloud seeding and has invited experts from the northern province of Heilongjiang to serve as consultants.
Three thousand silver iodide shells have been stored at a military airport in the nearby city of Wuxi, ready for use when clouds are deemed ripe for seeding.
Weeks of high temperatures have severely strained Shanghai’s electricity grid, already sapped by massive increases in demand from factories and residents who can now afford refrigerators and air conditioners.
The city has forecast an electricity deficit of about four million kilowatts this summer – enough power to light four million homes.
