Moscow Mayor Promises a Winter Without Snow

**dmyre** · 10-18-2009, 12:36 PM

Pigs still can't fly, but this winter, the mayor of Moscow promises to keep it from snowing. For just a few million dollars, the mayor's office will hire the Russian Air Force to spray a fine chemical mist over the clouds before they reach the capital, forcing them to dump their snow outside the city. Authorities say this will be a boon for Moscow, which is typically covered with a blanket of snow from November to March. Road crews won't need to constantly clear the streets, and traffic - and quality of life - will undoubtedly improve.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2009101...08599193082200

**DomainsInc** · 10-18-2009, 12:46 PM

sucks for the people who are outside of moscow and will get dumped on but will this even work?

**south** · 10-18-2009, 03:46 PM

Originally Posted by DomainsInc

sucks for the people who are outside of moscow and will get dumped on but will this even work?

Wow. If it does, we should apply it to hurricanes.

**dmyre** · 10-18-2009, 04:06 PM

I wonder what type of chemical cloud will be hovering over Moscow...

**think** · 10-18-2009, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by dmyre

I wonder what type of chemical cloud will be hovering over Moscow...

My guess is one of these materials is being used:

What are the most commonly used seeding materials?

The materials used in cloud seeding include two primary categories, tied to the type of precipitation process involved. One category includes those which act as glaciogenic (ice-forming) agents, such as silver iodide, dry ice and compressed liquid propane or carbon dioxide, which are appropriate in cloud systems where the precipitation process is primarily cold (colder than freezing). Of the ice-forming materials, the most commonly used is silver iodide. The second major category is focused on cloud systems where the warm (coalescence) process predominates. In those environments, hygroscopic (water attracting) materials such as salt, urea and ammonium nitrate can be utilized. Of the hygroscopic materials, the most commonly used are salts.

http://www.nawcinc.com/wmfaq.html

**tristanperry** · 10-18-2009, 04:58 PM

Resists... urge... to... make....

"In Soviet Russia, [noun] [verb] you!!"

.. joke..

Oh go on then,

"In Soviet Russia, Google searches YOU!!"

"In Communist Cuba, we eliminate hunger. In Soviet Russia, hunger eliminates YOU!!"

..

Oh, but seriously? Erm, yeah seriously - this is a pretty silly idea. I know they have problems with snow, but this plan seems very short-sighted and fraught with issues.

**think** · 10-18-2009, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by tristanperry

Resists... urge... to... make....

"In Soviet Russia, [noun] [verb] you!!"

.. joke..

Oh go on then,

"In Soviet Russia, Google searches YOU!!"

"In Communist Cuba, we eliminate hunger. In Soviet Russia, hunger eliminates YOU!!"

..

Oh, but seriously? Erm, yeah seriously - this is a pretty silly idea. I know they have problems with snow, but this plan seems very short-sighted and fraught with issues.

We already seed clouds here in the US. People just aren't aware of it. If you Google cloud seeding you will see many companies, universities and government agencies involved in cloud seeding projects.

When Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy suggested the agency fund a shuttering Desert Research Institute cloud seeding program, it turned more than a few heads.

The project is vital to a stable water supply in Northern Nevada, but what does it have to do with Southern Nevada?

Well, not much — at least not right now.

The cloud-seeding program provided precipitation to some of the rural ground water basins from which the authority wants to eventually pump water for Las Vegas.

The authority has been involved in the institute’s cloud-seeding program for years — but not in Nevada. It has paid the research institute $121,000 over the past three years to conduct cloud-seeding research and spur precipitation in the mountains between Denver and Grand Junction, Colo. The bill went to the authority’s Enterprise Fund, which gets most of its money from wholesale delivery charges to municipal water agencies.

Link to whole article:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009...dget-well-dry/