The Beijing WeatherModification Office gained fame around last year's Beijing Olympics for trying to drain clouds near the city ahead of Aug. 8 Opening Ceremonies.
It can augment precipitation, but only by perhaps 10% to 20%, says Wang Guanghe, director of the Institute of WeatherModification at the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences.
Experts say the sort of exact estimates attributed to the Beijing WeatherModification Office official by Xinhua -- 16 million tons of extra snow -- is nearly impossible to make for any individual storm, although statistics gathered painstakingly over years can enable estimates of the effectiveness of longer-term efforts.
The confusion over the government's role in the latest blizzard reflects both the scope of China's weather-modification efforts, and the aura of almost mystical ability that surrounds them in the minds of many Chinese and foreign observers.