clouds from both sides now

April 3, 2007 8:46 AM

Weather warfare. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye (15 comments total)

Jerry E. Smith's MySpace entry. Climate modification schemes from the American Institute of Physics [Internet Archive cache]. Cloud seeding FAQ. WeatherWars blog.Weather Modification Inc. Global Warming and Ice Ages [pdf]. Geoengineering Climate Google Scholar search results.
posted by nickyskye at 8:47 AM on April 3, 2007

Previously.
posted by nickyskye at 8:50 AM on April 3, 2007

I had a professor once who studied the history of technology. He insisted, as silly as it sounded, that the USA had looked into using weather weapons against the USSR. The idea (so he said) was that the technology would be plausibly deniable and would avoid an arms race because weather tended to flow from West to East and that because the Pacific was so much larger than the Atlantic, the weapon would only "point one way". I guess the idea would have been to cause drought or flooding or something to hurt the Soviet economy.
posted by Richard Daly at 9:07 AM on April 3, 2007

USSR and USA were only separated by 3 miles across the Pacific, but I guess Alaska isn't much of a target (although oil....). However, I doubt the plan would have been to send Evil Rain Clouds over the Atlantic anyway, since they'd be as likely to hit Europe. Why not just send them from West Germany?

I have no doubt the concept has been looked into. 100 years ago, making weapons out of the act of taking atoms apart would probably have sounded silly too.
posted by DU at 9:16 AM on April 3, 2007

Recently, I was on the phone with my godfather's daughter and she told me that when her dad was working for the Pentagon, he worked for a while on climatological warfare with a focus on cloud seeding. This was, she said, to be used to try and flood the Ho Chi Minh trail during the Viet Nam war. Since my own dad had also been a professional cloud seeder, to try and control rainfall in Jamaica, West Indies, in the early 1960's I Googled contemporary info on the subject and thought it might make an interesting post here.
posted by nickyskye at 9:19 AM on April 3, 2007

Operation Cumulus
Project Cirrus and Project Stormfury
Operation Popeye
posted by euphorb at 9:22 AM on April 3, 2007

I've been casually interested in this subject, but have never gone so far as to see a source with reputable quotations, sources, and claims.

I might pick this up, thanks.
posted by blastrid at 9:30 AM on April 3, 2007

Every year or so HAARP resurfaces as possibly being an experiment in weather warfare. Weather being used as a weapon still seems like science fiction to me as well, but these are interesting reads nonetheless!
posted by samsara at 9:50 AM on April 3, 2007

See also: Hail Cannons
posted by mattbucher at 10:23 AM on April 3, 2007

You could make the case that it's been on-going and the neocons have won with their amazing global warming.
posted by DenOfSizer at 10:36 AM on April 3, 2007

The Jesus spear point! magical powers! Is Jerry Smith the Latter day Joseph?
posted by hortense at 10:48 AM on April 3, 2007

Yes, *sigh*, the Jesus Spear Point on Jerry Smith's site has some serious cringe factor -and is obviously high up there on the Flake-o-rama Richter Scale. That's why I included the tediously interesting geoengineering climate info as some kind of scholarly validation for Jerry Smith's weather warfare info. lol, It is hard though to balance the majorly groanworthy with science cred.
posted by nickyskye at 11:15 AM on April 3, 2007

This actually makes a lot of sense to me. But then again, creation of 4 simultaneous 24 hour days within a single rotation of Earth empowers me above all 1-day gods and
educated stupid scientists. I will wager $10,000.00 on it!
posted by thirteenkiller at 2:51 PM on April 3, 2007

I like to think that no matter what it is, if it's remotely feasible to use it as a weapon, there's a couple of researchers somewhere plugging away at it. Trying to publish papers that no one else can review. Maybe putting out a journal once in a while. If it's been a good year, holding a bit of a conference in someone's back yard.
posted by plant at 3:44 PM on April 3, 2007

For some reason weather manipulation seems to be a hobbyhorse of the fringe. I suppose it makes sense -- what more powerful force is there than Mother Nature, and what more conspiracy-worthy subject if we could say all the earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis were plots by the omnipresent Evil Ones?
posted by storybored at 2:38 PM on April 4, 2007