Heavens above: Alton Towers bosses look at controlling the rain

Now theme park managers are planning to use controversial Communist rain-prevention techniques to ensure showers don't spoil days outs for millions of thrillseekers.

After the summer deluge sparked a dip in visitors to Alton Towers, bosses say they are working on plans to make the 500-acre site rain-free.

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They want to use a rain-seeding technique that encourages the heavens to open long before the threatening cumulonimbus gets too close to the theme park.

It involves firing silver iodide or dry ice into a cloud, simulating the natural salt, dust and other tiny particles in the atmosphere that help water droplets form.

The controversial process will be rolled out at next year's Olympic Games in Beijing to clear the polluted skies ready for a world audience.

It has become somewhat of a tradition in China to 'seed' clouds before public holidays in a bid to induce rain, disperse pollution and ensure clear blue skies.

It currently leads the world in cloud seeding and in the last five years has produced enough precipitation to fill the Yellow river, the country's second longest, four times over.

In the same period Chinese air force jets flew nearly 3,000 flights and sowed rain-making chemicals to bring down 210 billion cubic metres of water over three million square kilometres, nearly a third of China's territory.

Russell Barnes, the general manager at Alton Towers, said yesterday: "It's still a long way off, but after we read that Beijing plan to use cloud seeding to keep the 2008 Olympics dry, we thought we'd investigate.

"Whilst our resort features a large number of indoor attractions and rides, the wet weather definitely puts off families and our aim is to not be held hostage to the increasingly extreme weather conditions."

A spokeswoman confirmed that the Staffordshire park would be sending a delegation to the Games in a bid to learn more about the process which was first used during the 1940s.

The earliest attempts involved dropping pellets of crushed dry ice, or carbon dioxide, into the top of a cloud. Later, scientists started to use silver iodide because it was more effective than dry ice.

But meteorologists disagree over the effectiveness of the practice with some studies claiming cloud seeding can increase precipitation by up to 30 per cent, butt others question the overall effect on the environment.

While in China, where the rain-making rockets and shells were used in 1,952 counties across the country, not to mention the formidable arsenal of 7,000 cannon and 4,687 rocket launchers, Russia is also a keen user.

The method has been used for years to keep important public holidays rain-free.

The treatment was developed originally to keep military rallies in Red Square dry during the Soviet Union era but since then even the likes of Paul McCartney have employed its services.

He famously paid £22,000 on three jets to fire dry ice into the clouds hovering over St Petersburg ahead of an open-air gig.

The spokeswoman for Alton Towers said there was still "lots to consider" before the concept is adopted.

Among the issues will be the reaction of those local residents who will be engulfed by rain as a result.

Matthew Williams, a 22-year-old student from Stoke-on-Trent, said: "What gives Alton Towers the right to play God with our weather?

"Anyway, what's the sense in stopping it raining when people head straight for the log flume?"