Snow seeding provides temporary relief to drought

After 108 days without precipitation, Chinese authorities used cloud seeding technology to force a snowfall in the drought-stricken northern and central provinces that comprise China’s food basket, the South China Morning Post reported. Without snow cover, wheat and other crops risk frost damage. However, weather forecasters warned that the snowfall was too light to provide much long-term alleviation. Snow fell in Hebei, parts of Shanxi, Henan and Anhui, but many areas remained dry. "This is so little snow, it won’t help much at all," said Professor Jiang Wenlai, a hydrologist at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He said inducing snowfall is difficult without the proper conditions and that Beijing cannot rely on the method to stave off the crisis.