'Rain machine' does it again

Peter Stevens of Casino and the Atmospheric Ionisation Research machine.

Jacklyn Wagner

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Poll

Do you believe in the rain machine?

This poll ended on 30 September 2010.

Yes

25%

No

59%

Undecided

14%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

CALL him a crackpot, confidence man or meteorological magician – either way, Casino ‘rainmaker’ Peter Stevens has done it again.

After two months downtime, and a drier than average Easter on the Far North Coast, Mr Stevens called The Northern Star last Friday to warn us he was turning his rain machine back on – and we’ve barely seen the sun since.

“We turned it off on February 16 and it usually continues to effect the weather for about 28 days (one lunar cycle),” he said.

“We’ve had no significant rain since mid-March, so we seriously suspect we could be the cause of that.”

Mr Stevens re-activated his machine at 8.35am on Saturday with the intention of interrupting the static charge in the Northern Hemisphere to help settle the volcanic ash in Europe.

“This was a bit of an experiment to see what would happen,” he said.

With seven per cent of the State still in drought, Mr Stevens has offered his guaranteed service to affected farmers in the New England and Riverina regions.

He said that while he could point the machine to any spot on the globe from Casino, it still affected the local weather too much.

“For a fee we can go out and set up in the affected area,” he said, adding he only charged if it rained.

The Bureau of Meteorology, which has declined to comment on Mr Stevens claims, reported good falls across the region since Saturday, with up to 50mm in some areas. Showers are expected to clear on Saturday, ahead of a fine weekend.

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Man believes machine makes rain