Could Laser Beams Induce Rain?

Charles Dudley Warner, a friend of Mark Twain, wrote, "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." He'd have thought differently if he had laser beams.

A review in the Institute of Physics' Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, says that it might be possible to use high-powered laser beams to make it rain. This might be an alternative to seeding clouds, either with dry ice or silver iodide particles. While such seeding is common, it isn't always clear how effective it is and the results can vary a lot. It's also unclear what the consequences are to the atmosphere in those areas where seeding is done .... http://news.discovery.com