posted 07-19-2001 09:11 PM            

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. –– A powder touted as a potential way to weaken hurricanes sucked the moisture out of a thunderstorm Thursday in its latest test.

An airplane dropped $40,000 worth of the Dyn-O-Gel granules into a cloud 10 miles offshore. A television station's weather radar confirmed the cloud then lost moisture.

"The people in the tower visually confirmed that there was a tall buildup and the next moment it was gone," said Kevin Sullivan, control tower supervisor at the Palm Beach International Airport.

The granules, made by a company called Dyn-O-Mat, fell into the ocean as a gel-like substance that dissolves in salt water.

Company chief executive Peter Cordani said he hopes to sell the product to the federal government after more tests. The product is dropped in a line from the outer portion of the hurricane to its eye. The company contends that by dropping moisture out of the swirling mass, the storm is weakened.

The company said a granule absorbs 2,000 times its weight in water.

Hugh Willoughby, hurricane research director at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Miami, was skeptical that the powder could reduce a hurricane's strength by more than a few mph in wind speed.

"It might be that this stuff would be great for making it rain," he said Wednesday.

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