Local meteorological departments have resorted to weather manipulation to relieve the drought in major wheat-growing areas in central and northern provinces.

A technician at the local meteorologic department prepares for artificial precipitation in Jiyuan, central China's Henan Province, Feb. 9, 2011. Meteorologic departments across Henan started artificial precipitation operations to bring moisture to the drought-stricken province as long-awaited snowfalls hit most parts of Henan Wednesday. [Xinhua]

Cloud seeding has been carried out in Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces in recent days to generate snow.

Wang Jianzhong, information office director of the Henan provincial meteorological bureau, told China Daily that they succeeded in generating precipitation by shooting snow-inducing silver iodide into the sky on Wednesday morning. As a result, Henan saw its first snow this winter in the afternoon, after 116 days without any snow or rain.

Sun Yan, an information office official at the Shandong provincial meteorological bureau, told China Daily on Wednesday that two to three planes conducted cloud seeding in the province.

Anhui also carried out cloud seeding, with 67 rockets fired into the sky on Monday and Tuesday, the local weather bureau said.