Seeding Clouds

China seeds clouds and ends up with snow!
I'd heard of cloud seeding but thought it was more fanciful than factual. I found out this is not the case when the Chinese Authorities in Beijing seeded clouds using rockets to induce rainfall after three months of drought.
Zhang Qiang, deputy director of the Beijing Weather Modification Command Centre, said his staff had blasted chemicals into the clouds to increase the snow.
"More than 500 cigarette-size sticks of silver iodide were seeded into clouds from 28 weather rocket-launch bases in the city," Mr Zhang said.
They ended up with snow and according to Beijing's meteorological bureau, the snow should have stopped quite quickly.
A spokesman for the Badaling section of the Great Wall, about an hour from the capital, said twice as many tourists as usual had been to view the snow- covered site.
"Even though it wasn't the weekend, about 4,000 tourists still showed up yesterday to watch the snow… the scene is spectacular," the official said.
Sledge and Toboggan stockists in Beijing are reporting brisk trade.