TPO36 Hail pieces of ice that form and fall from clouds instead of snow or rain has always been a problem for farmers in some areas of the United States Hail pellets can fall with great force and destroy crops in the field Over the last few decades a meth

Both the listening and the reading discuss the feasibility of using cloud seeding to protect crops from hail. They contradict each other from the following three perspectives.

First, the lecturer challenges the idea purposed by the writer that laboratory experiments show that water vapor can transform into light snow in the condition of cloud seeding. Instead, she contends that water vapor in this condition can not only turn into snow but also can become any other form such as drought. It may lead to other damage toward crops like lack of water. Thus, cloud seeding is not effective for the protection of crops.

Second, the professor refutes the idea advocated by the author that cloud seeding in some Asian cities has proved to be a good method of precipitation control. Nevertheless, he posits that the results shown in Asian countries cannot be repeated in the United States because it is applied to the urban area only, where the air pollution provides a favorite condition to cloud seeding. Therefore, it may not work well in the unpolluted American fields or farms.

Third, the lecture casts doubt on the thought illustrated by the passage that local studies provide evidence of hail damage reduction in cloud seeding areas. On the contrary, it indicates that the reduction was not just in cloud seeding areas because it also appeared in North, South, and East areas. It seems the reduction was caused by natural variation and had nothing to do with cloud seeding.

In conclusion, the talk rebuts the passage from three distinct aspects regarding the effectiveness of cloud seeding used in protecting crops from hail.