Page 164 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

The next lines in Schaefer’s notebook reveal the true excitement of the
moment: “I turned to Curt and we shook hands as I said ‘We did it!’ Needless to
say we were quite excited. The rapidity with which the Co dispensed from the
2
window seemed to affect the cloud was amazing. It seemed as though it almost
exploded the effect was so widespread and rapid.” Later, back at the airport,
Langmuir rushed out enthusiastically to congratulate the experimenters, prais-
ing the remarkable view from the airport control tower and exclaiming that only
minutes after the cloud-seeding run had begun, he had seen long streamers of
falling snow pouring out of the base of the cloud more than fifty miles away.
C. Guy Suits, GE vice president and director of research, immediately wrote
a memo recommending access to a better airplane, either commercial or military,
since the one operated by GE could not fly over 14,000 feet. Demonstrating his
easy access to the military, he wrote, “We might want the Army Air Force to give
us some help. I think a call to [Major General Curtis E.] LeMay would be help-
ful in this connection, particularly if [he knows] about the preliminary result of
the experiment.” 30
The following day, GE told the story in detail, framing it as a triumph of scien-
tific prediction with seemingly limitless practical possibilities: “Schenectady, NY,
Nov. 14, 1946—Scientists of the General Electric Company, flying in an airplane
over Greylock Mountain in western Massachusetts yesterday, conducted experi-
ments with a cloud three miles long, and were successful in transforming the
31
cloud into snow.” Langmuir claimed that this result “completely fulfilled” pre-
dictions based on laboratory experiments and calculations. If one pellet of dry ice,
“about the size of a pea,” could precipitate several tons of snow, he predicted that
“a single plane could generate hundreds of millions of tons of snow” over moun-
tain ski resorts, possibly diverting the snowfall from major cities. or, depending
on conditions, perhaps the seeding technique could be used to clear fogs over
airports and harbors or prevent aircraft icing problems. A flurry of news reports
followed leaving the lab “snowed under” by hundreds of clippings (figure 5.2).
The New York Times read, “Three-mile cloud made into snow by dry ice dropped
from plane . . . opening vista of moisture control by man.” A banner headline
32
in the Boston Globe announced, “Snowstorm Manufactured.” Louis Gathman
and August Veraart rolled over in their graves.
Letters, postcards, and telegrams flooded in, too. one of them asked for indoor
snow for a Christmas pageant to replace the white corn flakes used the previous
year; another asked for artificial snow for a college winter carnival; and a ski opera-
tor seeking market advantage asked for advice. A search-and-rescue operation on
Mount Rainier urgently asked GE to clear out the clouds so the team might be
able to spot a downed aircraft. Movie producers requested tailor-made blizzards.

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