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The Tokyo metropolitan government has tried cloud seeding in an attempt induce rainfall and alleviate one of the worst water shortages on record in the Kanto region.
Continued high temperatures this summer, exacerbated by a lack of rainfall have caused severe water shortages. Having already reduced the maximum limits that can be drawn from the dam system providing water to the Tokyo metropolitan area, the government said that it authorized the use of a device that artificially induces rainfall, NTV reported Thursday.
The ground-based cloud seeding device, which was installed in Okutama 50 years ago, was activated on Wednesday. Officials say it is the first time the machine has been used in 12 years. The machine uses silver iodide to cause water vapor stored in clouds to freeze, condense and fall as precipitation.
The government has referred to the cloud seeding attempt as "an experiment". The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Waterworks confirmed that rain fell roughly an hour after the experiment took place. In a public statement, the bureau said it believes cloud seeding may help increase rainfall in the Kanto region by around 5%.
© Japan Today
22 Comments
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kidojapan
You can ask Philippine Government to direct the rains to Tokyo.
SauloJpn
"The rain maker!" 50 years ago huh... Clever people back then!
samwatters
Every year in Hokkaido we are hit with meters and meters of snow that we push into the ocean. Is there a way to ship that snow/water to the mainland and store it for times like these?
StormR
SauloJpn yes agree i didnt think they had the technology 50 years ago, if they did then why is the world plagued with water shortages?
Seems to me they want to control rainfall to suit someones pockets and to spread fear amongst the worlds populace, with which comes control of the masses.
Anyway I hope they can successfully make enough rain and that it only falls around Okutama and not around my place.
Whatsnext
Oooh they are partially admitting they are Geo Engineering. They've been messing with the weather for a lonnng time now. And not only Tokyo.
Spanki
I wonder if its looks anything like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-iTC2JmMbM
hameln
This looks like the original cloudmaker from Wilhelm Reich. In 1956 court gave him 2 years of prison, fined him $10000 and ordered the cloudmakers and all literature associated with it destroyed.
asybot12
This has been going on for decades with some very scary results. There was an incident in the USA where a T-Storm was seeded, it caused a dam collapse and killed hundreds, there are other examples (China as well as Russia and the USA have been doing this for decades!) . Today they commonly called "Chem-trails"
bruinfan
Does this have anything to do with the downpour yesterday in the Kanto Area? It seemed like there was about 8cm of precipitation.
gaijinfo
I have a feeling this isn't going to turn out so well...
rickyvee
"cloud-seeding" has been around for decades. It used to be done with airplanes flying above clouds, so it's interesting to hear that Tokyo has had a ground-based system for over 50 years.
rowiko68
I do not think that messing with the weather is a very good idea!
smithinjapan
The thing is, you have to have clouds, and the right kind of clouds for that matter, for this kind of thing to work. So if they're patting themselves on the back because an hour after using the device on giant cumulus clouds they shouldn't -- it was probably going to rain anyway. Much of the scorching days of this summer have been cloudless in Southern Japan. Heck, the first three quarters of the rainy season saw but one tiny little piddle one evening. After that we got lots, granted, but since then we had one or two rainfalls tops (last real one was Thursday August 1st, I believe).
Hopefully it rains soon, not only to fill up the wells a little but to cool things off.
warnerbro
The device they were using cannot project the substances high enough to be of any use, according to a meteorologist quoted on TV. The rain that did occur was forecast before they employed the device. There is considerable controversy about the extent of this method's utility, even when done from the air. If it were that easy to make rain, it would be done much more often.
Thunderbird2
Didn't they have a device like that in "Son of Godzilla"?
I hope this works... and it it does, why isn't it deployed to Africa, the desert... etc? We could make the world's arid places fertile.
Jack Stern
Saturday and Sunday are festival days in my neighborhood and rain is not welcome till Monday.
isoducky
@samwatters nice idea, only issues are securing the snow and purifying it.
52atomsrgod
Tokyo water shortage? Much of the water supply is from underground wells and reservoirs all of which could be contaminated by being in close proximity to Fukushima. If you have plenty of rain, but still have a water shortage, then someone made a decision to close the water sources that are currently high in radiation, but they will not tell you that.
mukashiyokatta
Better find out what the harmful effects of silver iodide are.
tabana
Looks like they just found out what to do with Tepco's excess water .
morrison_rm
//why isn't it deployed to Africa, the desert... etc?
The problem is, it needs some clouds to start with. If there's no moisture in the air, then seeding won't achieve anything. I suggest a very long pipe from the UK, god knows we have enough rain for at least two countries...
TheDevilsAssistant
Rain Machine, Huh?
I got a few American Indian friends that would love to come to Japan and perform a few rain dances, Might have more luck than this 'seedomg' machine.