Rainmaking operation to be started nationwide

[webfact]

Royal rainmaking operation to be started nationwide

BANGKOK, 7 March 2016, (NNT) - Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation Director General Lersak Riewtrakulpaiboon said that the Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation will be focusing on adding more water to the nation's four main dams including Bhumibhon Dam, Sirikit Dam, Kwae Noi Dam and Pasak Dam.

Pasak Dam will require a large volume of water to enhance its capability in allocating water resources to generate water for consumption.

The planes for the royal rainmaking operation have been prepared in addition to eight planes, which have been provided by Air Force, to distribute 6,500 tons of royal rain to the area.

However, the increased amount of water will depend on how severe the drought situation is. Currently, it is still necessary to request for public cooperation by conserving water usage.


-- NNT 2016-03-07

[stoneyboy]

Meanwhile in the real world,desalination plants are springing up in the hottest driest arid areas known to man.

[selftaopath]

When is this scheduled to begin? Possibly around Songkran?

[Rayk]

Must be a storm in the forecast.

[plachon]

How does one distinguish a royal raindrop from an ordinary raindrop?

And has any cost-benefit analysis been done for this exercise? All those people, all those planes, all the fuel and chemicals required? How much does all this cost and is it all worth it? 6,500 tons doesn't sound like very much water (c. 6,500 m3) when one takes into account that the reported active capacity of Bhumibol Dam is 9,762,000,000 m3

[BSJ]

"The planes for the royal rainmaking operation have been prepared in addition to eight planes, which have been provided by Air Force, to distribute 6,500 tons of royal rain to the area."

to distribute 6,500 tons of royal rain to the area. Can they drop some of that on Noen Maprang please. Wifey needs it for the corn.

[maanoi]

How does one distinguish a royal raindrop from an ordinary raindrop?

Yeah we need to know the difference. I don't want to be locked up for complaining about royal rain.

[NongKhaiKid]

Do they use the same motto as 617 Squadron ( The Dam Busters ) ?

Apres Moi Le Deluge ?

Since they're always credited with ' success ' I'll better bull up my wellies and make sure waterproof jacket, hat and water wings are serviceable and ready for action at a minute's notice. Hope the roof on my local doesn't leak.

[anon467367354]

the skies are already being sprayed with aerosols and have been since Yingluck's last year in office and the US wanted to use an airport to "study" the weather.

Does Thailand really think those little prop planes can compete with those huge tankers that are covering the skies from horizon to horizon 24/7?

https://youtu.be/2UDPnNkUHUw

[madmitch]

Does this actually work?

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

You can only make rain when the conditions are conducive to do so. The rest is propaganda to cover the fact that the present powers are helpless against nature even with S 44 on their side and that they are clueless how to manage a country that's experiencing a natural disaster. A normal government would have imposed severe water restrictions since 2015. These restrictions would have included city dwellers, industries, water parks and golf courses. Such restrictions would have been strictly enforced and backed up by an emergency decree. Unfortunately the present powers can't do that as this would reflect badly on them and will make them unpopular even among the 10% that supports them. Not even to mention that the word drought may chase away tourists and as this is the only economic sector that's keeping the economy together, it's a big no no. So they will go to all kinds of snake oil sellers/fortune tellers to save them from nature.

[empireboy]

Does this actually work?

Hmmm.... why do you ask? Is that important!? This is Thailand!

[skildpadden]

However, the increased amount of water will depend on how severe the drought situation is. It is always good to have an excuse on hand if the effort didn't produce royal rain drops. .

[FireMedic]

The rain dancing crew is warmed up and will be on in 5.

[ratcatcher]

There have to be clouds in the sky in order for them to be seeded. No clouds.................no rain. Right now here in Phichit area we have clear blue skies and we haven't seen seedable clouds for a long while.

[brain150]

If they can make rain, then why is there a drought in the first place ?

[Misterwhisper]

It might help to go and try a different approach:

Take a group of shamans wearing antlers on their heads and let them dance around an empty water bucket while beating drums and chanting magical spells.

Oops, I have just realized that FireMedic has beat me to it.

[poohy]

As Mr Ratcatcher beat me to it you do need "clouds" for cloud seeding otherwise it doesn't work.

[wabothai]

How does one distinguish a royal raindrop from an ordinary raindrop?

Yeah we need to know the difference. I don't want to be locked up for complaining about royal rain.

Holy Moses !!

[worgeordie]

In the UK they would have had hosepipe,car washing bans in place

weeks ago,here it seems ,cross your fingers ,hope the water lasts,

if the rains are late this year,its going to be a huge problem.

regards worgeordie

[Roomuck]

Wow, a lot of really negative comments here for what is an amazing achievement. Why the uninformed Thai bashing?

The current King is considered one of the great kings of Thailand. Almost god like, and he CAN make it rain.

On 12 October 2005 the European Patent Office granted to King Bhumibol Adulyadej the patent EP 1 491 088 Weather modification by royal rainmaking technology.

The Aussies, and other countries, use this technology, and are grateful for it.

Clever people these Thais.

[ratcatcher]

Wow, a lot of really negative comments here for what is an amazing achievement. Why the uninformed Thai bashing?

The current King is considered one of the great kings of Thailand. Almost god like, and he CAN make it rain.

On 12 October 2005 the European Patent Office granted to King Bhumibol Adulyadej the patent EP 1 491 088 Weather modification by royal rainmaking technology.

The Aussies, and other countries, use this technology, and are grateful for it.

Clever people these Thais.

"Thailand started a rain-making project in the late 1950s. The first principle was to scatter sea salt to catch the humidity in the air and dry ice to condense the humidity to form clouds.^[36] The project took about ten years of experiments and refinement. The first field operations began in 1969 above Khao Yai National Park. Since then rain-making has been successfully applied throughout Thailand and neighbouring countries.^[37] On 12 October 2005 the European Patent Office granted to King Bhumibol Adulyadej the patent EP 1 491 088 Weather modification by royal rainmaking technology."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding

[sawadee1947]

It would be a joke if not being so serious. Though a Thai university gave evidence that all these rainmaking flights are B.S....it's ongoing. And it's common sense that it is wasted money.

[shirtless]

Spraying nano particles of Barium and aluminum is really bad for the health, costly and ineffective someone must be making a lot of money out of this,. what are the cost are they made public.

[billd766]

Meanwhile in the real world,desalination plants are springing up in the hottest driest arid areas known to man.

A fair idea but, how much do you think it will cost to build enough desalination plants to fix the drought.

Firstly they HAVE to be beside the sea, which means along the eastern seaboard from Samut Prakarn to perhaps Trat.

Next you have to be able to pump the water to where it is needed. To reach Chiang Mai the pipeline will need to be perhaps 800 km long in the north west and up to Nong Khai in Issan, about the same distance. The you will need a distribution network to feed the water across the country, east to west to cover Issan, and from Bangkok to central and northern Thailand. Perhaps another 5,000 km of pipe work.

Next you need to have a network of pumping stations all of which will require electricity so you will need extra power stations to run them.

Having put that lot together in the master plan, you also need to buy the land to sink the pipes and build the pumping stations, not forgetting of course the extra staff required to run the system 24/7/365.

Having got all that done you then need to buy the materials, gather the contractors and the overseers and build your network which shouldn't take much more than 4 or 5 years.

Of course the thing I haven't mentioned so far is the budget. How many billion or trillion baht do YOU think that little lot will cost?

[billd766]

If they can make rain, then why is there a drought in the first place ?

Because the idiot who was the agriculture Minister in Yingluck's government ORDERED that the dam levels be lowered to the barest minimum to cope with the floods of 2012/13 that never happened.

He ignored all the advise given and now the country is reaping the results.

He is the same minister who ordered that the dams be kept full the year previous year so that the rice farmers could have enough water for several crops. The n when the dams were at the danger levek they had to dump the water hence the big floods of 2011/12.

The irony is that he wasn't even a member of the PTP but a different political party that was in the coalition with the PTP.

[dageurreotype]

Meanwhile in the real world,desalination plants are springing up in the hottest driest arid areas known to man.

Desalination plants are most certainly not needed here in this country surrounded by SEA. Landlocked ones, yes

What IS desperately needed is a water conservation program/better water management. They could replace Songkran with Holi for starters

[dageurreotype]

Meanwhile in the real world,desalination plants are springing up in the hottest driest arid areas known to man.

A fair idea but, how much do you think it will cost to build enough desalination plants to fix the drought.

Firstly they HAVE to be beside the sea, which means along the eastern seaboard from Samut Prakarn to perhaps Trat.

Next you have to be able to pump the water to where it is needed. To reach Chiang Mai the pipeline will need to be perhaps 800 km long in the north west and up to Nong Khai in Issan, about the same distance. The you will need a distribution network to feed the water across the country, east to west to cover Issan, and from Bangkok to central and northern Thailand. Perhaps another 5,000 km of pipe work.

Next you need to have a network of pumping stations all of which will require electricity so you will need extra power stations to run them.

Having put that lot together in the master plan, you also need to buy the land to sink the pipes and build the pumping stations, not forgetting of course the extra staff required to run the system 24/7/365.

Having got all that done you then need to buy the materials, gather the contractors and the overseers and build your network which shouldn't take much more than 4 or 5 years.

Of course the thing I haven't mentioned so far is the budget. How many billion or trillion baht do YOU think that little lot will cost?

Not to mention, by the time all of that's been accomplished (if ever) it'll be pissing down anyway

[JAG]

It might help to go and try a different approach:

Take a group of shamans wearing antlers on their heads and let them dance around an empty water bucket while beating drums and chanting magical spells.

Oops, I have just realized that FireMedic has beat me to it.

Sounds like "Morris Dancers".

Incidentally, and completely off topic, why do Morris Dancers wear little bells on their costumes?

So that they can annoy blind people as well!

I'm off, taxi is waiting...

[Roomuck]

Spraying nano particles of Barium and aluminum is really bad for the health, costly and ineffective someone must be making a lot of money out of this,. what are the cost are they made public.

Do you have any facts to back up your statements. The government (taxpayers) pay for it, the people all benefit from it, mainly the farmers in the poorer areas of Thailand who don't pay much in taxes anyway. So a case of the better off looking after the poor.

They do it developed western countries also, (under license from the Thai King) do you also believe it is simply a corrupt money spinner there also.