The ultimate Bond villain? China plans to make it rain with $168 million weather control program

Cloud seeding is already watering large regions of China.

China is going to expand a climate engineering program and is prepared to invest billions into a scheme to increase rainfall over 370,000 square miles. The plan has a price tag of $168 million and will work over three years.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- China is experimenting with the weather to bring more rain to the country. The $168 million investment will deliver more rain and snow across 370,000 square miles of land. China already has a program to engineer the weather and officials claim it has delivered enough water to the nation to fill the Three Gorges Dam Reservoir over three times.

It sounds like a plot from a James, Bond movie but cloud seeding isn't a new practice. Scientists have been seeding clouds for decades to increase rainfall over arid regions. The practice involves an aircraft dropping microscopic particles of silver iodide or another similar substance into clouds. The particles attract water which forms a snowflake or raindrop and falls as precipitation.

There does not appear to be a downside to this practice other than a cloud would have less moisture after the rain.

The Chinese government plans to modify several aircraft and to purchase small rockets which can deliver these particles to the clouds. The government also uses these techniques to clear the air ahead of important events, such as the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. The practice can also suppress hail and diminish rains over areas prone to flooding by encouraging clouds to drop their rain before reaching a flood prone area.

Such practices can help to diminish the impact of drought and famine. However, if such practices were enacted around the world, there could be potential to disrupt global weather patterns, at least temporarily.