Hope for Wimbledon?

US Storm experts 'erased' a cloud from the sky for the first time. They achieved the feat by sprinkling a water-absorbing powder over the cloud, making it disappear from sight and weather station radar screens. The powder will one day even dry up hurricanes and tropical storms, they hope.

It is the moisture that gives hurricanes their strength!

Says Peter Cordani who runs Dyn-O-Mat, the company that makes the product. "In the case of a huge hurricane, we would not be trying to soak it up altogether. But what we would do is break it up and reduce its strength and killing potential. We think we can save lives with this product and we are very happy about that." The powder could also banish rain over open-air events and sports fixtures. Cordani and his team hope to get the US-government permission to tackle a hurricane or tropical storm in the coming season.

Cloud-B-Gone

A large military aircraft scattered the powder through a storm cloud 1600 metres long and over 4000 metres deep. It took about 4000 kilograms of powder to soak up the moisture from the cloud, making it virtually disappear off the sky and radar screens. Each grain of the powder, called Dyn-O-Gel, is capable of absorbing 2000 times its weight in moisture, condensation and rain.

If you were to look at a grain under a microscope, it would look rather like a cornflake. This means that they flutter back and forth like a snowflake as they pass through the cloud, taking up as much moisture as possible.
P.Cordani

Environmentally friendly ?

The polymer turns into a gel and eventually it becomes heavier and falls to earth. The gel dissolves when it hits salt water, but the gel should still be safe if it falls over land. Cordani claims that much of the gel evaporates on the way down, and it is biodegradable and not hazardous to the environment or anybody's health. The water-laden gel could also be used to help make rain or to fight fires by dousing the flames. Never a wet Wimbledon again? Peter Cordani:

If there was a 50-mile storm front moving in, we could only put holes in it. It would just keep coming. But if there was a cloud threatening a sports fixture, it would be possible to get rid of it.

For more information, go to the New Scientist online edition