It's no secret: while most folks see a snowstorm as white -- and an inconvenience if not a threat to their driving safety -- those of us in the salt industry, like ski operators, see the same snowstorm as green -- a natural phenomenon that increases our market (for deicing salt and lift tickets). A "good winter" from a salt 'n ski perspective means lots of snow leading to musings about why we can't have more of that white stuff.
I respond that if technology made it possible to control the weather, the first result would be the natural "there oughta be a law" call to ban snowfall, at least on highways. But, of course, we can't control the weather, can we?
Not to fear, your tax dollars are at work. The Utne Reader reports a Defense Technology International story that "the US Air Force is developing technology that would actually allow it to control the weather. Military scientists have been experimenting with plasma technology that would 'reconfigure the ionosphere' for military purposes. The idea is to sneak up on enemy fighters and change the atmosphere to prevent them from receiving satellite signals."
Now, THAT's climate change!
Winter started out right in the DC area in December, but disappeared entirely in January. It's back, forecasters tell us. Appropriately, this morning's Washington Post has a story on the job of weather forecasters. As with the advance of freedom in the world and the resilence of the U.S. economy's growth despite 9/11, Katrina and oil prices, an important and underappreciated story is the significantly improved performance of road weather information systems (RWIS). These aren't the forecasters in the Post story, but rather the data systems that tell roadway maintainers the pavement temperature so they know when to put down salt. For more on road weather, check out the Salt Institute website .
