frauke at large

As some of you might have read: China was facing a severe drought not too long ago (sometime at the beginning of Feb). Indeed, China declared an emergency water shortage in eight northern and central drought-hit regions, where almost four million people were suffering water shortages. With much of China’s farming still relying on rainfall, since farming communities still have a poor irrigation system, prolonged drought and therefore a meager harvest could have devastating effects.

And you might have also read about the artificially created snow fall in Beijing, where a special chemical (most probably silver iodide) was sprayed into the clouds to make artificial snow to combat the drought. Results were pretty immediate and within a few hours Beijing was covered in snow, ending the longest drought in 38 years. Ah, the wonders of cloud-seeding … and ignoring some of the controversy surrounding the effectiveness (and ethics?) of this process: problem solved you might think. But think again …

drought solved, yes … but soon we’ll have a drowning emergency. The amount of rain that we have had over the last two weeks is really starting to take the biscuit. Only two weekends ago I was reporting that the weather was finally on the up and spring had sprung, when somebody must have turned the tap in the heavens on and forgot to turn it off again. It has been raining for EVER. Now with regards to the drought and nature this is all good and to be honest I’m all for rain, particularly when you are inside with a hot cup of tea and a good book and when the rain is dropping onto the roof window making that wonderful raindrop sound. But when it comes at you horizontally, in buckets, an umbrella and waterproof jacket have no effect, and it NEVER STOPS again, then rain’s no longer fun. Rant over, but wouldn’t it be nice if spring did finally come:

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