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Weather Modification
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Weather Modification
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Below is a checklist of Weather-modification themes on postal items (stamps, souvenir sheets, aerogrammes, postal cards, etc.). Catalog numbers, years of issue, and notes on the items featured are given when available. If readers know of additional information or images, please contact the authors using the e-mail addresses at the bottom of this page.
See also the following Contributors to Meteorology involved in weather modification:
| Country | Catalog Number | Type of Item | Year of Issue | Notes on Content |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather modification | ||||
| Botswana | 394 (Mi393) | 1987 | Lightning prevention (traditional medicine) | |
| Botswana | 395 (Mi394) | Rain making (traditional medicine) | ||
| Botswana | 393-396 fdc | Two of four stamps on FDC | Weather modification (traditional medicine) | |
| Canada | None | (Meteor. returns) postal card, also back | 1959 | Meteorological return card for hailfall (part of the Alberta Hail Project, whose goal was hail suppression through weather modification by cloud seeding) |
| Chad | 837 (Mi?) | 1999 | Chac-Mool2 | |
| China (People's Republic) | 1388 (Mi1398) | 1978 | Weather modification by rocket | |
| China (People's Republic) | 1384-1388 fdc | One of five stamps on FDC | ||
| China (People's Republic) | 3069 (Mi2197) | 2000 | Cloud-seeding aircraft for rain enhancement project | |
| China (People's Republic) | 3066-3069 fdc1 | One of four stamps on FDC, also back | ||
| China (People's Republic) | 3066-3069 fdc2 | One of four stamps on FDC (different) | ||
| China (People's Republic) | None | Postal card, also detail | 2007 | Hail reduction by cloud seeding (translation from Chinese) (by rockets carrying the cloud-seeding material) |
| China (People's Republic) | None | Postal card (different) | 2009 | Rockets for cloud seeding; Duerbote County Meteor. Bureau |
| Comoro Islands | 392 (BL183A) i392 (BL183B) | In (right) margin of SS1 In (right) margin of imperforate SS1 | 1978 | (possible) African rainmaker |
| Italy | None | Postcard | post-WWII | Hail suppression by rocket |
| Japan | 2934 (Mi3895) | Five of MS10 (2935a (5x (2934-2935))) | 2005 | Ono no Komachi4; (see also Sierra Leone 2459) |
| Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania | 261 (Mi249) | 1973 | Hail suppression by meteorological rocket | |
| Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania | 259-262 fdc1 | One of four stamps on FDC (Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania cancel) | ||
| Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania | 259-262 fdc2 | One of four stamps on FDC (Kampala, Uganda cancel) | ||
| Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania | 259-262 card | Presentation card | ||
| Laos | C9 (Mi36) | 1953 | Calling for Rain Buddha: Used in ceremonies at the end of the dry season to invite the rains back to Laos | |
| Laos | C9 proof | Signed proof | ||
| Laos | 121 (Mi?) | 1966 | Rocket festival: at the end of the dry season, bamboo rockets built and decorated by monks and villagers are carried in procession and then fired into the sky to inform the rain god Phaya Thaen that it is time to bring the rains back to Laos. | |
| Laos | 121 ds | Deluxe sheet (121) | ||
| Laos | C105 (Mi362) | 1973 | Rocket festival: at the end of the dry season, bamboo rockets built and decorated by monks and villagers are carried in procession and then fired into the sky to inform the rain god Phaya Thaen that it is time to bring the rains back to Laos. | |
| Laos | 1227 (Mi1465) | 1995 | Rocket festival: at the end of the dry season, bamboo rockets built and decorated by monks and villagers are carried in procession and then fired into the sky to inform the rain god Phaya Thaen that it is time to bring the rains back to Laos. | |
| Laos | 1228 (Mi1466) | |||
| Laos | 1229 (Mi1467) | |||
| Laos | 1230 (Mi1468) | |||
| Laos | 1602 (BL192, Mi1903) i1602 | SS1 Imperforate SS1 | 2003 | Calling for Rain Buddha: Used in ceremonies at the end of the dry season to invite the rains back to Laos |
| Laos | 1602 fdc | Stamp and (multi-color printed) cachet (design like stamp) on FDC | ||
| Liberia | Mi2903 | From MS17 (Mi2893-2909 + label), also margin detail | 2000 | (Charles) Wilson's cloud chamber1 |
| Liberia | Mi2907 | Photograph from (Charles) Wilson's cloud chamber1 | ||
| Mexico | 1210 (Mi1723) | 1980 | Chac-Mool2 | |
| Mexico | 1210 fdc | Stamp on FDC | ||
| Mexico | 1210 sc | Stamp and (French) text on souvenir card | ||
| Mexico | KM572 | 1 peso (coin) | 1994 | Chac-Mool2 |
| Mexico | KM573 | 2 peso (coin) | ||
| Mexico | KM574 | 5 peso (coin) | ||
| Mexico | 2543d | One of MS5 (2543 (a-e)) | 2007 | Chac-Mool2 |
| Mexico | 2543c-d fdc | One of two stamps on FDC | ||
| Niuafo'ou (Tonga) | 101 (Mi?) | 1988 | Rainmaker Mountain, Samoa | |
| Romania | 5441 (Mi?) | From MS6 (5441a (6x 5441)) | 2013 | First artificial rain experiment, based on the work of Ştefania Mărăcineanu |
| Romania | 5441-5443 fdc | One of three stamps and (brown printed) cachet on FDC | ||
| Romania | None | (Posta Romana) stamped envelope | 2013 | First artificial rain experiment, based on the work of Ştefania Mărăcineanu |
| Russia (USSR) | None | (Pictorial) cancel and (multi-color printed) cachet on postal card | 1984 | Weather modification rockets in launcher |
| Russia (USSR) | None | Cachet (same) on postal card | 1984 | Weather modification rockets in launcher |
| Sierra Leone | 2459 (BL?) | SS1 | 2001 | (Ono no) "Komachi4 Praying for Rain", woodblock print by Suzuki Harunobu, from the early 1760s; (see also Japan 2934) |
| South Africa | 1236 (Mi1322) | 2001 | In times of drought, the medicine men of the Xam Bushmen would find a "rain bull" (or its female equivalent, the rain cow) in a pool of water and attach a rope to its horns and pull it out. The belief was that wherever the bull went, rain would follow, so it was led over as large an area as possible to bring rain to that area. That belief comes from the legend of Savuri and the Rain Bull. | |
| South Africa | 1236-1240 fdc | One of five stamps on FDC | ||
| Thailand | 1054 (Mi1081) | 1984 | Artificial rainmaking through addition of silver iodide smoke to the atmosphere in agricultural areas as part of the Thai National Development Program. | |
| Thailand | 1671 (Mi1714) | One of MS5 (1673a (1669-1673 + label)) (Mi1713-1717) | 1996 | Royal rainmaking project3: airplane seeding clouds |
| Thailand | 1669-1673 fdc | One of five stamps on FDC, also detail on back | ||
| United Nations | 79 fdc (Mi? fdc) | (ArtCraft) cachet on FDC | 1960 | Acetone burner |
| United States | 1919 fdc (Mi1488 fdc) | (PCS golden-replica) insert from FDC, also front | 1981 | "applications to bettering life on Earth, such as weather management" |
1(Charles) Wilson's cloud chamber was used to investigate certain atmospheric and cloud phenomena. Some of the results of the cloud chamber experiments later found application in the theory of cloud seeding and weather modification.
2Chac-Mool is the name given to a particular type of Mesoamerican stone statue found in various parts of central America, sometimes in temple complexes. It is recognizable as a reclining human figure with the head turned to one side and a flat bowl or tray on its stomach. The name was coined by photographer Augustus le Plongeon after he excavated one at Chichen Itza in 1875. Chac-Mool is not to be confused with the Mayan god of rain and thunder Chaac. The cultural significance of Chac-Mool is not known. It may have been a divinity related to water or rain and it has been speculated that people might have placed coins (or other objects?) into the bowl as an offering and a request for rain.
3King Bhumibol Adelyadej (depicted in all the stamps of Thailand 1669-1673) has been involved with the rainmaking project since the 1950s. The first field operations took place in 1969 in Khao Yai National Park. Since then the King has continued to develop the technique, for which he received in 2005 a European Union patent under the name "Weather Modification by Royal Rainmaking Technology".
4Ono no Komachi (ca 825-900) was a Japanese poetess. Legend has it that she lived during a severe and prolonged drought. At long last she composed a prayer for rain in the form of a poem written on a card which she put into a miniature boat. She then released the boat into a pond in the Imperial Garden. That scene is illustrated in a woodblock print from the early 1760s by Suzuki Harunobu, (Ono no) Komachi Praying for Rain, which is reproduced in Sierra Leone 2459. Thanks to the power of Komachi's poetry, the rain started and continued for three days. Harunobu's print shows the rain already falling, even as Komachi is pushing her little vessel away from the shore.
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