Weather Modification?

So is there actually any way that we can change the weather? While it's become increasingly well established that human activity can cause systematic climatic changes by modifying the land surface and contributing air pollution, such unintentional effects normally seem to make things worse instead of better. Of course, for every loser there's usually a winner. For example, if a drought causes crop failures in one area, then farmers in other areas may reap profits from higher prices.

The two applications that people usually think of for intentional weather modification are increasing rain over dry areas and minimizing the impact of hurricanes. Science-based rain-making has been attempted since at least the 1940s, although only fairly recently have researchers been able to show a clear improvement, under ideal circumstances. Known as cloud seeding, this normally involves injection of silver iodide or other specialized salts to help cloud droplets grow faster. Currently the big news is how much money China has invested to try to produce favorable weather for the Beijing Olympics. In general their effort is viewed with substantial skepticism.

Attempts to modify the strength or path of hurricanes have largely either been dismal failures or figments in the imagination of conspiracy theorists. For several years, the U.S. government supported research on Project StormFury, before determining that the potential for useful modification was exceeded by the inherent risks. Although federal research funding for hurricane modification has dried up, new (and old) ideas continue to be proposed. These have included moisture-absorbing gels, atomic bombs, and oil slicks.

Other areas of interest in weather modification are hail suppression (e.g. in Alberta) and clearing fog at airports.