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I know nothing significant about meteorology and definitely not a science guy so this will probably seem naive...

But today I am wondering if there is any existing science or methods a government (with enough funds) could employ, through science, to lessen the force of a hurricane?

I vaguely remember something about them being affected by air temperatures, so couldn't something be done to somehow inject heat or refrigeration into the area? Or something to counteract against it's speed increases?

What approaches would one consider in such an endeavor?

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    $\begingroup$ Possible duplicate of earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/2541/… $\endgroup$
    – jeffronicus
    Sep 6, 2017 at 15:38
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    $\begingroup$ So I guess altering the path is just one approach. My question is, what approaches would be feasible today (and not exactly how one of those would work in detail) $\endgroup$
    – GWR
    Sep 6, 2017 at 15:40
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    $\begingroup$ Related question here: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/45440/… I have little doubt it's discussed, because solutions to 100 billion dollar problems should be discussed, but I don't think anything is close. $\endgroup$
    – userLTK
    Sep 6, 2017 at 21:01
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    $\begingroup$ I know someone once (perhaps jokingly) using a nuclear bomb to stop a hurricane. One concern is that you don't want the solution to do more harm than the hurricane itself. $\endgroup$
    – user967
    Sep 7, 2017 at 15:10
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    $\begingroup$ Possible duplicate of How much energy is needed to alter the path of a hurricane? $\endgroup$
    – 410 gone
    Sep 17, 2017 at 11:08

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It might be possible but hasn't been done in practice

One idea is that smoke could be introduced into the hurricane and, because the smoke is heavier than air, the wind speeds could be reduced.

The smoke would also cause water vapour to condense at lower altitudes and hamper the heat cycle within a hurricane. When the water evaporates it carries with it the energy needed to heat it to that point. The water vapour is lighter than air and will rise but once it condenses it falls - releasing the energy it gained from rising (like if you pushed a ball up a hill), this energy adds to the air currents within the hurricane. If the water condenses at a lower altitude it doesn't have as much energy.

There are other ideas such as using fans to blow in cool air and seeding clouds with silver iodide (link makes for an interesting read but ultimately failed), these ideas may also have some potential but one of the problems with altering complex weather systems is that the side effects are not necessarily well understood. This makes carrying out practical tests difficult on both a moral and legal level.

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