Can we stop Hurricanes? Should we try?

[aTOMiC]

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5988890/?GT1=5100


Some of the ideas in this article are beyond rational but I have to wonder if at some point will humans actually have some command over Earth's weather? From what I understand Hurricanes have a natural and useful purpose. What reaction would occur if we began dispersing them? Living in Florida and witnessing the devastation first hand, I'd be all for possibly re directing certain "killer" storms but even that concept worries me.

[Revan]

Damn right. We should get rid of these things. I'm actually calling my lawyer right now and am planning to sue one that did damage to my house.

[matrixman]

I don't see how we could affect, never mind control, something as large and as unpredictable as a hurricane. There are just too many chaotic variables in any weather system to contain. Those storm-busting schemes in the article scare me more than the hurricane. They should remain only as ideas for Hollywood movies. If you try them in the real world, you can't yell "Cut!" if something goes wrong.

[Avatar]

I agree with MatrixMan. Who knows what subtle interactions of nature we will interfere with if we attempt something like this, not to mention the dangers of attempting some of these ideas.

Chances are, we'll end up with a worse problem than if we just weathered them.

--Avatar

[Revan]

No. I think we should weather them as well... i mean look at it this way, we're humans... we can't control nature. Any attempt to do so would be folly.

[ZefaLefeLaH]

Imagine this. All over the plains & tornado alley, you have a few thousand mobile microwave cannons that can quickly heat a storm past its point of growth. These are used to accelerate a tornados lifespan so that it is extremely short-lived.

A hurricane heads for the USA. It's going slow enough. We move all the 4,800 cannons to the beaches of predicted landfall and cause the storm to flare over its growth point and the front of the storm becomes more intense and then all but dissipates as it passes all of the cannons. This process continues until the storm is merely a tropical depression and the cannons are moved back to their tornado-stopping positions.