It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
STARR (voice-over): Amid the tragedy of recent tornadoes, the timeless question: is there anything that can be done about the weather?
JOE GOLDEN, WEATHER MODIFICATION ASSOCIATION: What we're talking about in terms of tornado modification is taboo in meteorology. A lot of my -- a lot of my scientific colleagues are very reluctant to even talk about it.
STARR: Joe Golden worked for 40 years as a government meteorologist. Taboo maybe. But Golden says it's feasible.
GOLDEN: If you can shorten the lifespan of a tornado before it hits the city, you can save hundreds, hundreds of lives.
STARR: Meteorologist Steve Tracton has more than 30 years of government experience. (on camera) Now, you have heard in your profession some pretty wacky ideas.
STEVE TRACTON, METEOROLOGIST: Oh, there are some real crackpot schemes out there, to say the least.
STARR (voice-over): Tracton has heard about beaming microwaves at storms, even blowing jet engine air. But Golden says stopping tornadoes is serious business.
GOLDEN: In order to do that, you have to be able to produce a very strong downdraft close to the tornado earlier than it normally would occur. STARR: Tracton says think again.
TRACTON: And that's one of the key hang-ups in hitting the modification program. Being able to demonstrate convincingly, both statistically and scientifically, that what you intend would not have occurred naturally.
STARR (on camera): What would have to be done to dissipate this?
TRACTON: There is so much energy here it was thought that the only approach would be to effectively drop a nuclear bomb inside it. That was actually given serious consideration in the early '50s.
STARR (voice-over): That never happened, but there was Project Storm Cherry, a government effort to divert hurricanes. On one occasion it appeared to have worked.
TRACTON: But they later learned that that change in track occurred well before they ever did the cloud seeding.
STARR: There have been other attempts. At the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese claimed to have shot rockets into the sky to divert rain. And the Russians tried to make the winter snow stay outside of central Moscow. So can the government change the weather?
GOLDEN: I'd say five years at a minimum, we can come up with good technology. (END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now Golden is an advocate for weather modification. In fact, he did some research for the federal government for the Department of Homeland Security. But others say beware, that once you start modifying the weather, you know, you could send bad weather in a different direction, to another city. It's the law of unintended consequences. You get started, and you may not be able to control the outcome -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr, thank you. Fascinating stuff.
Originally posted by AgentSimms
reply to post by ButterCookie
You know if they are openly talking about it on the air it has already been in use for 10 years or more. That usually goes with the introduction of "new" technology. Especially when it comes to the military.
If I am not mistaken didn't China come out and say they had manipulated the weather before the Olympic games, as to have clear skies.