THE Queensland Government are to start cloud seeding by the end of the year to combat the drought. It is hoped that the seeding will boost rainfall by up to 30%, based upon results taken from similar programs in Tasmania and South Africa. Water Minister Craig Wallace said: “Some people may doubt that cloud-seeding works, but it's science fact, not science fiction.” Climatologist Professor Roger Stone, from the University of Southern Queensland, said: “If it's done with the utmost precision it has the potential benefit of perhaps a 10 or 30 per cent increase in rain per rainfall event. It may still not break the drought but at least give us what may otherwise be an average year (of rainfall).”
Cloud seeding works by adding particles of silver iodide to existing clouds, this causes ice to form which then melts falling as rain.
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