China ends drought with artificially induced snow storm

In an effort to bring an end to a lasting drought, Chinese meteorologists seeded clouds with chemicals and brought this seasons first snowfall to Beijing.

Beijing received an early snowfall this year along with minus 2 Celsius temperatures and strong north winds, interrupting flights from Capital Airport and passenger shipping services off the coast of Shandong province in the east, reports China's Xinhua News agency. The Beijing Evening News said the snowfall was the earliest to hit the city in 10 years. Meteorologists in China often get results from shooting cigarette-size sticks of silver iodide into the clouds in order to induce precipitation. In February of this year, an artificially induced snow storm closed 12 highways around the capital city, reported Reuters. Zhang Qiang, head of the Beijing Weather Modification Office told the Xinhua News Agency, "We wont miss any opportunity of artificial precipitation since Beijing is suffering from the lingering drought." Despite China's efforts to seed the clouds, a drought in the north of the country has continued for over a decade, reports AFP.