China has eased the drought in northern wheat-growing areas by seeding artificial clouds, a move which also bought Beijing its earliest snow in a decade and reportedly grounded the national airline.

Anhui province, which has suffered a renewed dry spell since September, received 40mm of rain over the weekend, the China Meteorological Administration.

Winter wheat sowings in the province, and other grain growing areas including Shandong, have been threatened, for a second successive season, by shortage of rain.

'Lingering drought'

The weekend rainfall followed the use of jets and rockets which also bought snow to Beijing a city were winters, while cold, are typically reasonably dry. Coupled with high winds, it delayed travel from Beijing's Capital Airport.

Beijing Weather Modification Office over the weekend used 186 doses of silver iodide to seed clouds, sparking snowfall estimated at more than 16 million tonnes, official news agency Xinhua said.

"We won't miss any opportunity of artificially inducing precipitation since Beijing is suffering from the lingering drought," weather official Zhang Qiang said, according to Xinhua.

Climate change? 

China has a history of periodically using cloud seeding to ease water shortages which are proving a persistent problem in many areas, denting hopes for this year's wheat harvest and, according to many analysts, cutting corn yields too.

The government has blamed shortfalls on global climate change, although many observers have cited deforestation, increasing industrial water use and urbanisation too.