Do you think you’re under stress? Be glad you don’t work for the Meteorological Bureau in Beijing. Not only are athletes under pressure to bring home the gold at the Olympics Games in China this August, but meteorologists are being charged with making sure Mother Nature doesn’t rain on Beijing’s parade. Officials for the Olympic Games in China have directed the Beijing Meteorological Bureau to prevent wet weather from spoiling the start of the Games during the opening ceremony at the roofless National Stadium, aptly nicknamed the Bird’s Nest stadium.
Talk about stress!
According to Zhang Qian, head of weather manipulation at the bureau, for cold clouds they use a coolant made from liquid nitrogen to increase the number of droplets while at the same time decreasing their mean size. This results in smaller droplets making it less likely to fall, reducing the chance of precipitation. For warmer clouds (above 0° C) they use a silver iodide to speed up the droplets’ coalescence, which produces a downdraft and suppresses the formation of clouds. Previously they’ve used anti-aircraft guns to seed the clouds.
That’s pretty ingenious. I wonder how many brides who’ve planned outdoor weddings are going to want to book these guys to ensure their big day is cloudless.
