I woke up on Sunday morning, Nov. 1, to a light drizzle and decided to bundle up on my way to work. By the time the bus pulled up to the office, though, it was full-fledged snow! I was a little more than excited as I previously wasn’t sure if I’d be seeing much snow during my time in China. After work, I went for a nice little walk, taking in the wonderful first snow of the season. Tons of fun was had by me.
The next day I got an email from my dad asking me if I had seen any of the snow that was artificially induced in Beijing. Wait… WHAT!?
Honestly, I didn’t even think that was possible. I quickly hit the googleweb to search for what he was talking about. The BBC confirmed it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8337337.stm.
Sure enough, the people in charge over in Beijing have a gov’t entity presiding over the weather. Even the weather is now a bureaucracy here in China! This entity is called The Beijing Weather Modification Office. Apparently, they’re most famous for successfully preventing rain during the 2008 Summer Olympics. But I had never heard of them before.
And let me clarify, it wasn’t exactly fake snow… the snow itself seemed real enough. (I know snow when I see it!) But the way in which it was snowing was a little sketchy, and definitely didn’t feel like the “first snow of the season” any more. Only in China.
The weather has definitely cooled down a bit since the snow, causing a lot of change in the tree colors and the air in general. I finally get to see some fall before the real winter comes.