BEIJING (Reuters) – China has created artificial snow for the first time in Tibet, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday, months after experts warned of melting glaciers and drought in the Himalayan region.

The Tibet meteorological station had performed a “successful artificial snowfall operation” last week in northern Tibet, about 4,500 meters above sea level, the agency said.

“The first artificial snowfall proves it is possible to change the weather through human efforts on the world’s highest plateau,” it quoted Yu Zhongshui, an engineer with the meteorological station, as saying.

“To launch artificial precipitation can help alleviate drought on the grassland in northern Tibet,” Yu was quoted as saying.

Chinese scientists have warned that rising temperatures on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau will melt glaciers, dry up major Chinese rivers and trigger drought, sandstorms and desertification.