Artificial rain to ease drought in China

Beijing, Feb 9: To ease drought, China has adopted artifical means to bring rain in seven provinces, according to China Meteorological Administration (CMA).

In a statment released on Sunday, Feb 8, it said that weather-control officials fired 2,392 artillery shells and launched 409 rockets in 127 cloud-seeding operations by 10 pm on Saturday, Feb7.

'Rain-enhancing practices' were adopted in drought-hit provincial regions in Henan, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hubei and Anhui, it said.

Parts of the these provinces and north China's Hebei province saw one to five millimetres of rain from Saturday to Sunday morning, the National Meteorological Centre (NMC) reported.

In central China's Henan province, artificial precipitation caused an average 0.5 mm of rainfall in 17 counties and cities. The province, a major wheat-producing area, is suffering the worst drought in half a century.

Parts of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Anhui and Hubei will see thick clouds during Sunday daytime, favourable for more rain-inducing measures, said the CMA.

The NMC forecast rain and snow Sunday and Monday in parts of northwest, southwest and central China.

China has declared the highest level of emergency in response to the drought that affected most parts of northern China beginning from November.

The drought has affected 10.7 million hectares of crops, 4.37 million people and 2.1 million heads of livestock across the country.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)