MOSCOW, May 9 (Itar-Tass) — A grouping of aircraft of the Russian Air Force took off from an airbase to the northeast of Moscow at 06:00 hours Wednesday to spay special reactant chemical agents over the thick rain-bearing clouds, which covered the skies in Moscow City and adjacent areas, in a bid to improve weather hours before the Victory Day parade on Red Square.
Dawn came to Moscow Wednesday morning amid rain and a sharp fall of air temperatures to 11 degrees Celsius from 23 or so degrees Tuesday.
“At 06:00 hours, four aircraft of the Air Force loaded with specialized reactants took off from the Chkalovsky airbase to disperse the clouds,” Colonel Vladimir Drik, an official spokesman for the Air Force told Itar-Tass. “They did their job at the altitude of around 8,000 meters” along the imaginary line connecting to the Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports, both located to the south of the city.
“In subsequent hours, a decision may be taken to build up the grouping to ten jets for the purpose of creating favorable weather conditions during the parade on Red Square and other festive functions,” Col Drik said.
Traditionally, aerial dispersal of rain-bearing clouds is done on Victory Day, Russia Day and City Day. The reactants used in the process are based on silver iodide, bare ice and finely divided cement.
The essence of the technology, which is known as the seeding of clouds in meteorology, is based on the concentration of moist in the nuclei of reactants sprayed. The reaction that emerges compels the precipitation to fall out before it reaches the territory of the city.