Chinese scientists inducing man-made snowfall twice in less than ten days has evoked sharp comments from the public, who are now questioning whether it is wise to tinker with nature.

The second major snowfall yesterday, which virtually turned into a snowstorm in the Chinese capital and suburbs nearby has wreaked havoc with the citizens, grounding flights, closing highways and leading to long traffic snarls.

The China Daily quoted an official of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau as saying that both the snowfalls on October 31 and November 10 were induced by seeding clouds with chemicals.

This manipulation has led to the heaviest concentration of snowfall around Beijing in the last 22 years and the pretext the scientists are putting forward is that they want to alleviate a drought over much of north China that has been lingering over a decade.

The scientists have forewarned the residents to expect more snowfall over the next three days. The 16 million tonnes of snow on October 31 was induced, the scientists said, by showering 186 doses of silver iodide on the clouds, and yesterday's seeding generated more that 18 million tonnes of snow.

The snow which virtually turned into a snowstorm caused a four-hour shutdown of the Beijing international airport with nearly 200 flights cancelled and brought the morning rush hour to a crawl.

But now, academicians are questioning the wisdom of playing with the weather.

Xiao Gang, professor of Atmospheric Physics in the Chinese Academy of Sciences told China Daily, "No one can tell how much weather manipulation will change the sky. Past experiments showed that it can bring about 10 to 20 per cent of additional rain or snow."

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