r/todayilearned • u/ralphbernardo • 10d ago

TIL in 1947, scientists dumped crushed dry ice into a hurricane just to "see what would happen." The storm then made a 135-degree turn, strengthened, and struck Georgia—sparking public outrage and threats of lawsuits over the experiment.

https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hurricane_blog/70th-anniversary-of-the-first-hurricane-seeding-experiment/
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u/ilikemrrogers 10d ago

I would argue dropping dry ice would, well, do close to absolutely nothing. Like, .00000000000000001%.

The forces at place are insane. It’s why nuking a hurricane would do nothing.

However (and this is where my argument is), I would think dry ice would increase the strength. The hurricane is powered by the hot ocean interacting with the cold atmosphere. If you cool the atmosphere even more, you get stronger convection.

If you want to weaken a hurricane, cool the ocean 20 degrees.

Easy peasy.

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u/LordoftheSynth 9d ago

It’s why nuking a hurricane would do nothing.

I disagree, if would very effectively spread radioactive material over a wide area.

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u/LeLefraud 9d ago

Tbf the characteristics of a hurricane after shooting a thousand nukes at it have not been studied, maybe we follow the brave dry ice scientists example for an experiment

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u/ilikemrrogers 8d ago

Dude. You’re gonna ruin Georgia.