How To Stop A Hurricane: 4 Strange Theories On How To Subdue A Natural Disaster

Hurricane Irene is headed for the East Coast and while you'd be wise to board up those windows and stock up on supplies, nothing is quite as effective as literally stopping the storm in its path.

That's right, we're talking about controlling the weather. And no, you won't need to do your anti-rain dance.

From massive ice blocks to nuclear bombs, here are four strange but supposedly effective strategies for how to stop a hurricane.

1. Hurricane Pacifier
In 2008, Daniel Rosenfeld and colleagues at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem proposed that injecting smoke into the lower regions of a hurricane would start a chain reaction that would condense water vapor and form tiny water droplets that, rather than fall as rain, would be frozen on the outer edges of the storm, ultimately resulting in lower wind speeds.

2. The Bill Gates Strategy
According to a 2009 article from USA Today, five patents put forward by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and colleagues included initiatives "not limited to atmospheric management, weather management, hurricane suppression, hurricane prevention, hurricane intensity modulation, hurricane deflection" to manage storms." One strategy conjured up by the computer nerds concluded that pumping huge quantities of chilly water into the eye of hurricane will make the storm fizzle out.

3. The Giant Ice Cube
Sure, you could combat a hurricane with a massive -- really massive -- block of ice from one of the poles, but as this USA Today explains, "As with most hurricane modification ideas, this one is much easier said than done." Potential complications include measuring just how much ice is necessary and pin pointing where exactly to drop that ice.

4. Nuclear Weapons
It's never a good idea to drop a nuclear bomb, but that doesn't mean it couldn't stop a hurricane. A theory that suggests dropping a nuke into the eye of the storm would heat the cool air and disrupt the convection current, thus subsiding the storm.

Comments

[Christopher Daly]

03:35 PM on 08/28/2011

The way to stop hurricanes is simply to get all the politicians to stop talking. The same thing with global warming. Politicians are mega-hotair generating machines. Just turn them off. Problem solved. It's the same principle as the role of the entertainment industry in economic downturns. It's a statistical fact that Hollywood generates more comedies and musicals and light-hearted dramas in times of economic hardship. The fact is that economic hardship is CAUSED BY the over generation of comedies, musicals and light-hearted dramas. If Hollywood would consistently produce tragedies we would have good economic times all the time.

[Connie Chapman]

01:35 PM on 08/28/2011

wow like the nuclear bomb idea lets try it... ha

[blackhole2008]

10:03 PM on 08/27/2011

Let Ron Paul stop it, since he thinks they are no big deal.

[GaspingForAir]

12:08 AM on 08/28/2011

That could work, actually. Toss him in the middle, he's full of hot air.

[srooge]

09:35 PM on 08/27/2011

Where's Super Congress?

[yorktown1979]

09:37 AM on 08/28/2011

Would that be "Super hot air"?

[JP1493]

09:03 PM on 08/27/2011

I say drop the nuke on one of these big babies when it's out at sea and see what happens. I'd like to see that.

[sunmocker1970]

09:45 PM on 08/27/2011

Just not too close..
Oh and wear shades..

[Jack Davies]

05:54 PM on 08/27/2011

Stopping a hurricane? Oh sure, now let's mess with that! It's not like preventing forest fires or other attempts to mitigate natural "disasters" has had a harmful effect on the environment....

[abudotcom]

05:36 PM on 08/27/2011

Theory # 5 _ Live other nature alone, fooling with mother nature will cause many more calamities..

[Peter Llewellyn James]

05:15 PM on 08/27/2011

Another way to stop a hurricane is to hype it non-stop on 24/7 cable news until the storm shrivels and dies of shame - just like Irene is doing now.

[street prophet]

04:29 PM on 08/27/2011

Just man trying to play god as usual

[abudotcom]

05:34 PM on 08/27/2011

Amen to that...

[jmcoughlin8]

04:20 PM on 08/27/2011

Look around the solar system at all the other dead planets. We are on the only living planet in our solar system. Should we be concerned? Should we have respect for our planet? Should we worship it? If anything, history and science has taught us that life doesn't exist forever on our planet. What causes massive extinctions? The weather? Pollution? Cosmic events? The weather is more powerful and unpredictable than the human race. To think that man can somehow tame weather and control it without first asking what the implications would be and recognizing any intervention by man could be catastrophic would be prehistoric logic.

Knowing that life may have existed on other planets in our solar system and that life now only exists here on earth, do you ever ask yourself if this is some type of isolation or imprisonment? Can we excape someday? Can we excape ourselves?

Don't embark on ruling mother nature. The forces of nature are much more powerful and far more intelligent.

[606experiment]

05:20 PM on 08/27/2011

Read the Urantia Book....it will answer your question.

[matanzero]

04:04 PM on 08/27/2011

Well maybe this concept won't stop the hurricane but it might slow it down or ameliorate the damage. It is axiomatic that hurricanes will not form in colder temperatures and it would be impossible to expose a large system to chill water or ice. But if you can introduce the concept of smoke (concept #1) as well as a gas refrigerant in sufficient quantities it may subdue the fury of a large hurricane or disintegrate a smaller one.

[chuckl4826]

03:55 PM on 08/27/2011

Obama should just open his big mouth again and take a deep breath!

[InventPeace]

03:48 PM on 08/27/2011

Maybe thats the key, barges, that cruise ahead of the storm pumping massive amounts of ocean floor cold water to surface, using wind generators and large scale (perhaps 1 million units), when you calculate the damages caused by not slowing them down, its probably worth the expense, and creates jobs, saves lives, reduced ins costs, etc etc.

[chibikawaiistarr]

03:46 PM on 08/27/2011

Battling nature may not be a good idea.

[yorktown1979]

09:34 AM on 08/28/2011

Man is so ignorant and arrogant. To think he could do battle with the Almighty! LOL

[InventPeace]

03:45 PM on 08/27/2011

If a way could be found to use the excess electricity to pump the cold ocean floor water to the surface it would be great, IMAGINE: a moving wind mill generator farm that tracks along with the hurricane constantly slowing it down all the way from africa, then at same time pumping cold water to surface, (giant tubes dangling to ocean floor with electric pumps), the higher the wind the more cold water to the surface; and if its movable it does it for the whole week as the storm moves.

[shiben98]

11:33 AM on 08/28/2011

Yeah, good idea until the ocean currents get screwed up... Because there is no way that we could ever do that...