CLOUDSEEDING
Dubai’s Record Rain Floods Expensive Homes and Halts FlightsTWO YEARS OF RAIN IN 24 HOURS
Verity Ratcliffe and Kateryna Kadabashy
Wed, April 17, 2024
Dubai’s Record Rain Floods Expensive Homes and Halts Flights
(Bloomberg) -- Dubai flights have been severely disrupted and cars were left stranded on flooded roads after record rainfall over the past day brought the city to a standstill.
The United Arab Emirates experienced its heaviest downpour since records began in 1949, Dubai’s media office said in a statement. It caused chaos for residents as water entered the city’s expensive homes and underground car parks, left some buildings without power and resulted in widespread flooding even a day later.
One person died after being swept away by flash floods in the north of the country, the National newspaper reported. In neighboring Oman, at least 18 people have died in recent days as the heavy rains caused flooding, AP reported, citing a statement from the country’s National Committee for Emergency Management.
Dubai airport, one of the world’s busiest, is suffering from “significant disruption,” it said Wednesday on X. Online departure boards showed most arrivals or departures as canceled or delayed as of 1 p.m. local time. Emirates, the biggest international airline, said it was halting all check-ins for passengers for the day.
The heavy rains across the desert nation came after cloud seeding. The UAE has been carrying out seeding operations since 2002 to address water security issues, but the lack of drainage in many areas can trigger flooding, including in cities such as Dubai that’s a global financial and business center.
The Gulf state’s National Center of Meteorology dispatched at least seven seeding planes from Al Ain airport between Sunday and Monday, the government agency said. That technique involves implanting chemicals and tiny particles — often natural salts such as potassium chloride — into the atmosphere to coax more rain from clouds.
With global warming threatening a surge in heat-related deaths in the UAE, Dubai’s media office on Tuesday dubbed the downpours “rains of goodness,” despite the flooded houses and overflowing swimming pools.
The latest storms followed heavy rains earlier this year that had also caused flooding and traffic snarls. Dubai’s government told its employees to work from home again on Wednesday due to the weather conditions and urged private employers to do the same. Schools have been directed to remain closed.
People took to social media to share updates on the aftermath of the weather. Some videos showed cars being swept off roads, one showed the ceiling of a shop collapsing as water inundated one of Dubai’s most popular malls, while another claimed to have footage of a collapsed road near the eastern city of Al Ain.
There was some rainfall elsewhere in the region as well. Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia saw the heaviest showers in the country in the past 48 hours. Riyadh was hit with sand and wind storms that at one stage led to near-zero visibility but otherwise faced dry conditions on Tuesday.
Saudi’s flagship carrier Saudia and budget airlines Flynas scrapped two dozen flights between them, according to FlightAware. Some early Wednesday flights from Bahrain’s main airport were canceled but departures resumed mid-morning, according to the Bahrain International Airport website. Qatar’s Hamad International Airport was also operating normally.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
Photos show Dubai overwhelmed by torrential rain — and may expose the downsides of trying to control the weather
Kelsey Vlamis,Mikhaila Friel
Updated Wed, April 17, 2024
Photos show Dubai overwhelmed by torrential rain — and may expose the downsides of trying to control the weather
The United Arab Emirates experienced torrential rainfall and flash floods, beginning late Monday.
Videos appear to show planes taxiing down flooded runways at Dubai International Airport.
The flooding could have been worsened by cloud seeding, a practice to address water scarcity.
Torrential rainfall pummeled the United Arab Emirates this week, resulting in flash floods that caused air travel chaos, closed schools, and deluged homes.
The rain began late Monday, flooding the UAE with more than half a foot (6.26 inches) of water in 24 hours, according to the Dubai Meteorological Office and cited by ABC News. That is more than two years' worth of rain in one day, the outlet noted.
There are claims that cloud seeding may have played a role in the flash floods. The practice sees planes inject clouds with chemicals that can increase rainfall.
One fatality was reported by police at the time of writing on Wednesday: A 70-year-old man died in Ras al-Khaimah when his vehicle was swept away in the flooding.
Flooding also occurred in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. In Oman, 19 people died in flash floods, according to local media.
Cars are engulfed in water on a busy road in Dubai.GIUSEPPE CACACE/Getty Images
Dubai International Airport — recently named the most luxurious airport in the world — said planes were diverted. Some services now appear to have restarted.
Unverified videos on social media appeared to show heavily flooded tarmac, with large passenger airplanes creating waves and taxiing through several feet of water.
The airport did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider about the videos.
Vehicles drive on a flooded road during torrential rain in the Gulf Emirate of Dubai on April 16, 2024.GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images
"We advise you NOT to come to the airport, unless absolutely necessary," an airport spokesperson wrote on X on Wednesday.
They added that planes continue to be delayed and diverted.
An unnamed couple told the AP that the situation at the airport is "absolute carnage," with some passengers sleeping there or at the Metro station.
An empty car is pictured among the flooding on April 17, 2024.GIUSEPPE CACACE/Getty Images
Dubai recieved more than 5.6 inches of rain by Tuesday evening, around the amount it typically gets in a year and a half, according to Sky News.
It marks its heaviest rainfall in 75 years, according to a WAM news agency cited by Sky News.
In a post shared on X, the UAE's National Centre of Meteorology showed the regions that have been most affected.
The UAE may have been playing rainmaker by cloud seeding
While images of extreme flooding can show the consequences of the climate crisis, this particular event may have been worsened by a direct attempt to play rainmaker — literally.
To address water scarcity in the typically dry country, the UAE started using a practice referred to as cloud seeding in the 90s and early 2000s.
Cloud seeding is a method designed to increase the amount of water that falls from a cloud. It involves identifying suitable clouds and then using aircraft or ground-based generators to introduce a chemical agent that facilitates the production of snowflakes.
Cloud seeding has been used in countries worldwide, including in western US states dealing with drought, like California, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and Texas.
Vehicles are stranded on a flooded street following torrential rain in the Gulf Emirate of Dubai on April 16, 2024.GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images
The practice has long been controversial, with critics dismissing it as an attempt to "play God" or being potentially harmful to the environment or public health. Scientists have not documented the harmful impacts of cloud seeding, and recent studies have suggested that the practice works.
Ahmed Habib, a specialist meteorologist, told Bloomberg that the UAE's cloud seeding operations contributed directly to the heavy rainfall that fell this week.
Vehicles on Dubai are trapped by the heavy rainfall.Anadolu/Getty Images
Habib told the outlet that two planes conducted cloud seeding operations on Monday and Tuesday and that seven seeding missions had been carried out in two days.
Flight-tracking data analyzed by the AP suggested that an aircraft affiliated with the UAE's cloud-seeding project flew around the country Sunday.
"For any cloud that's suitable over the UAE you make the operation," Habib told Bloomberg.
A submerged duty machine is seen after heavy rain in the United Arab Emirates on April 16, 2024.Stringer/Anadolu/Getty Images
The UAE's weather bureau said no cloud seeding had taken place during Tuesday's rain, according to the National News. It did not immediately respond to a request by BI for comment.
Chris England, a weather producer at Sky News, said he doesn't believe cloud seeing to be a reason behind the floods as evidence of it working is "pretty slim at best."
Despite warning citizens to remain home during the heavy rain, the UAE government's press office said they were "rains of goodness," as the country has dealt with a rise in heat-related illnesses and deaths that some hope can be alleviated by an increase in rainfall.
Schools across the UAE continued to be closed on Wednesday, and employees are working from home, according to the Sky News report.
Verity Ratcliffe and Kateryna Kadabashy
Wed, April 17, 2024
Dubai’s Record Rain Floods Expensive Homes and Halts Flights
(Bloomberg) -- Dubai flights have been severely disrupted and cars were left stranded on flooded roads after record rainfall over the past day brought the city to a standstill.
The United Arab Emirates experienced its heaviest downpour since records began in 1949, Dubai’s media office said in a statement. It caused chaos for residents as water entered the city’s expensive homes and underground car parks, left some buildings without power and resulted in widespread flooding even a day later.
One person died after being swept away by flash floods in the north of the country, the National newspaper reported. In neighboring Oman, at least 18 people have died in recent days as the heavy rains caused flooding, AP reported, citing a statement from the country’s National Committee for Emergency Management.
Dubai airport, one of the world’s busiest, is suffering from “significant disruption,” it said Wednesday on X. Online departure boards showed most arrivals or departures as canceled or delayed as of 1 p.m. local time. Emirates, the biggest international airline, said it was halting all check-ins for passengers for the day.
The heavy rains across the desert nation came after cloud seeding. The UAE has been carrying out seeding operations since 2002 to address water security issues, but the lack of drainage in many areas can trigger flooding, including in cities such as Dubai that’s a global financial and business center.
The Gulf state’s National Center of Meteorology dispatched at least seven seeding planes from Al Ain airport between Sunday and Monday, the government agency said. That technique involves implanting chemicals and tiny particles — often natural salts such as potassium chloride — into the atmosphere to coax more rain from clouds.
With global warming threatening a surge in heat-related deaths in the UAE, Dubai’s media office on Tuesday dubbed the downpours “rains of goodness,” despite the flooded houses and overflowing swimming pools.
The latest storms followed heavy rains earlier this year that had also caused flooding and traffic snarls. Dubai’s government told its employees to work from home again on Wednesday due to the weather conditions and urged private employers to do the same. Schools have been directed to remain closed.
People took to social media to share updates on the aftermath of the weather. Some videos showed cars being swept off roads, one showed the ceiling of a shop collapsing as water inundated one of Dubai’s most popular malls, while another claimed to have footage of a collapsed road near the eastern city of Al Ain.
There was some rainfall elsewhere in the region as well. Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia saw the heaviest showers in the country in the past 48 hours. Riyadh was hit with sand and wind storms that at one stage led to near-zero visibility but otherwise faced dry conditions on Tuesday.
Saudi’s flagship carrier Saudia and budget airlines Flynas scrapped two dozen flights between them, according to FlightAware. Some early Wednesday flights from Bahrain’s main airport were canceled but departures resumed mid-morning, according to the Bahrain International Airport website. Qatar’s Hamad International Airport was also operating normally.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
Photos show Dubai overwhelmed by torrential rain — and may expose the downsides of trying to control the weather
Kelsey Vlamis,Mikhaila Friel
Updated Wed, April 17, 2024
Photos show Dubai overwhelmed by torrential rain — and may expose the downsides of trying to control the weather
The United Arab Emirates experienced torrential rainfall and flash floods, beginning late Monday.
Videos appear to show planes taxiing down flooded runways at Dubai International Airport.
The flooding could have been worsened by cloud seeding, a practice to address water scarcity.
Torrential rainfall pummeled the United Arab Emirates this week, resulting in flash floods that caused air travel chaos, closed schools, and deluged homes.
The rain began late Monday, flooding the UAE with more than half a foot (6.26 inches) of water in 24 hours, according to the Dubai Meteorological Office and cited by ABC News. That is more than two years' worth of rain in one day, the outlet noted.
There are claims that cloud seeding may have played a role in the flash floods. The practice sees planes inject clouds with chemicals that can increase rainfall.
One fatality was reported by police at the time of writing on Wednesday: A 70-year-old man died in Ras al-Khaimah when his vehicle was swept away in the flooding.
Flooding also occurred in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. In Oman, 19 people died in flash floods, according to local media.
Cars are engulfed in water on a busy road in Dubai.GIUSEPPE CACACE/Getty Images
Dubai International Airport — recently named the most luxurious airport in the world — said planes were diverted. Some services now appear to have restarted.
Unverified videos on social media appeared to show heavily flooded tarmac, with large passenger airplanes creating waves and taxiing through several feet of water.
The airport did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider about the videos.
Vehicles drive on a flooded road during torrential rain in the Gulf Emirate of Dubai on April 16, 2024.GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images
"We advise you NOT to come to the airport, unless absolutely necessary," an airport spokesperson wrote on X on Wednesday.
They added that planes continue to be delayed and diverted.
An unnamed couple told the AP that the situation at the airport is "absolute carnage," with some passengers sleeping there or at the Metro station.
An empty car is pictured among the flooding on April 17, 2024.GIUSEPPE CACACE/Getty Images
Dubai recieved more than 5.6 inches of rain by Tuesday evening, around the amount it typically gets in a year and a half, according to Sky News.
It marks its heaviest rainfall in 75 years, according to a WAM news agency cited by Sky News.
In a post shared on X, the UAE's National Centre of Meteorology showed the regions that have been most affected.
The UAE may have been playing rainmaker by cloud seeding
While images of extreme flooding can show the consequences of the climate crisis, this particular event may have been worsened by a direct attempt to play rainmaker — literally.
To address water scarcity in the typically dry country, the UAE started using a practice referred to as cloud seeding in the 90s and early 2000s.
Cloud seeding is a method designed to increase the amount of water that falls from a cloud. It involves identifying suitable clouds and then using aircraft or ground-based generators to introduce a chemical agent that facilitates the production of snowflakes.
Cloud seeding has been used in countries worldwide, including in western US states dealing with drought, like California, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and Texas.
Vehicles are stranded on a flooded street following torrential rain in the Gulf Emirate of Dubai on April 16, 2024.GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images
The practice has long been controversial, with critics dismissing it as an attempt to "play God" or being potentially harmful to the environment or public health. Scientists have not documented the harmful impacts of cloud seeding, and recent studies have suggested that the practice works.
Ahmed Habib, a specialist meteorologist, told Bloomberg that the UAE's cloud seeding operations contributed directly to the heavy rainfall that fell this week.
Vehicles on Dubai are trapped by the heavy rainfall.Anadolu/Getty Images
Habib told the outlet that two planes conducted cloud seeding operations on Monday and Tuesday and that seven seeding missions had been carried out in two days.
Flight-tracking data analyzed by the AP suggested that an aircraft affiliated with the UAE's cloud-seeding project flew around the country Sunday.
"For any cloud that's suitable over the UAE you make the operation," Habib told Bloomberg.
A submerged duty machine is seen after heavy rain in the United Arab Emirates on April 16, 2024.Stringer/Anadolu/Getty Images
The UAE's weather bureau said no cloud seeding had taken place during Tuesday's rain, according to the National News. It did not immediately respond to a request by BI for comment.
Chris England, a weather producer at Sky News, said he doesn't believe cloud seeing to be a reason behind the floods as evidence of it working is "pretty slim at best."
Despite warning citizens to remain home during the heavy rain, the UAE government's press office said they were "rains of goodness," as the country has dealt with a rise in heat-related illnesses and deaths that some hope can be alleviated by an increase in rainfall.
Schools across the UAE continued to be closed on Wednesday, and employees are working from home, according to the Sky News report.
Watch: Widespread flooding across Dubai after torrential rain
Our Foreign Staff
Wed, April 17, 2024
Torrential rain flooded roads, homes and malls and briefly halted operations at Dubai International Airport as storms lashed the Gulf on Tuesday.
Dubai, the Middle East’s financial centre, was paralysed by the heavy storms that caused widespread flooding around the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Flagship shopping centres Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates both suffered flooding, and water was ankle-deep at at least one Dubai Metro station.
Roads and residential communities also suffered heavy flooding in scenes repeated around the oil-rich Emirates, a desert country where rain is an unusual event.
The weather board urged residents to stay away from areas of flooding and water accumulation - BACKGRID
Roads in Dubai were flooded after torrential rain - Atif Bhatti/ESN/AFP via Getty Images
Schools were shut across the UAE and expected to remain closed on Wednesday, when further storms, including hail, are forecast.
Dubai Airport, the world’s busiest international hub measured by passenger traffic, temporarily suspended operations and cancelled more than 50 flights.
Videos on social media showed planes taxiing across an apron flooded with deep water.
“Due to the intense storm, operations were temporarily suspended for 25 minutes this afternoon, but have since re-commenced, and are now in recovery mode,” a Dubai Airports spokesman said.
Some inland areas of the UAE recorded more than 80mm of rain over 24 hours - Atif Bhatti/ESN/AFP via Getty Images
Heavy rain is an unusual event in the desert country - Jules Annan/Backgrid
The Asian Champions League football semi-final between the UAE’s Al Ain and Saudi side Al Hilal, due to be hosted in Al Ain, was postponed for 24 hours because of the weather.
Some inland areas of the UAE recorded more than 80 millimetres of rain over the 24 hours to 8am, approaching the annual average of about 100mm.
The weather board “urged residents to take all the precautions... and to stay away from areas of flooding and water accumulation”.
The storms in the region left at least 18 people dead in Oman.
Is Cloud Seeding to Blame for Floods? What to Know
Koh Ewe
How does cloud seeding work?
Cloud seeding basically works by artificially recreating the process by which rain and snow naturally occur: In normal clouds, microscopic droplets of water vapor are attracted to atmospheric aerosols like dust or pollen or salt from the sea. When enough water droplets converge around these nuclei, they form ice crystals and fall.
Clouds are seeded, typically by specially equipped aircraft but also by ground-based generators, by implanting particles, commonly silver iodide, in and around selected clouds to act as nuclei and trigger the precipitation process.
Does cloud seeding even work?
Since the futuristic-sounding weather modification technique was introduced in the 1940s, it has been used regularly across the world, from the UAE to China to the United States, for a wide range of intended purposes. Mostly employed by governments grappling with drought, cloud seeding has even found itself a part of some of the biggest events in history, from clearing urban pollution and ensuring blue skies at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, to staving away Moscow-bound radioactive clouds in the wake of a nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, to hampering the movement of U.S. enemies during the war in Vietnam. (Weather modification in warfare has since been banned by the U.N.)
For decades, a rain-scarce UAE has invested heavily in cloud seeding, including granting permanent residency to experts, and funding research programs to better identify the seedability of clouds.
But the science on just how effective cloud seeding is remains inconclusive. In 2003, the U.S. National Research Council concluded that “there still is no convincing scientific proof” of its efficacy at the time. A landmark 2020 study, however, found that cloud seeding does work—but researchers are clear about its limitations.
UAE meteorological officials say that their cloud seeding operations can increase rainfall by 10-30%, while Californian authorities’ estimates for their own program sit at 5-10%. The Desert Research Institute (DRI), the state of Nevada’s research group, says cloud seeding can increase seasonal precipitation by about 10%, while the World Meteorological Organization assessed in 2019 that the impacts of cloud seeding range from next to nothing to 20%. And success in producing rain depends significantly on atmospheric conditions such as wind and cloud temperatures.
That’s why experts agree that cloud seeding tends to get a bad rap from the public. Its impact is often overstated, and while it can enhance rainfall, other natural and unnatural factors play a much greater role in causing floods.
Are there any concerns about cloud seeding?
A number of myths are associated with cloud seeding, such as that it causes what’s known as “chem-trails,” cloud-like streaks of white in the sky. DRI says those are actually “jet contrails, and they are the aviation equivalent of visible plumes of steamy breath on a cold morning.” They have “no connection with cloud-seeding activities.”
But there are other reasons for skepticism about cloud seeding.
Critics argue that seeding clouds in one region may simply deprive another of rain, as the clouds will unleash precipitation before they were meant to. (Iran has for years accused its neighbors of “stealing their rain.”)
Others have expressed health concerns about the chemicals used to seed clouds. Silver iodide, a common substance used, may be toxic to animals, though others insist it is safe.
In a publication for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Laura Kuhl, a public policy professor at Northeastern University, argues that cloud seeding may do “more harm than good” due to these uncertainties and because, given its limited effectiveness, it promotes a sense of “techno-optimism” that “can obscure deeper structural drivers of vulnerability like unsustainable water use and unequal distribution of access to water.”
What’s to blame for floods?
The severity of the recent flooding in Dubai could be in large part because the perennially dry country hasn’t developed effective drainage infrastructure to deal with intense rainfall. But experts note that a major reason for such extreme weather events is climate change, since warmer air can hold more water, which then leads to heavier rainfall and floods in some areas.
Prinsley says that when it comes to dealing with global warming and increasingly destructive weather phenomenon, people should be more concerned about human activities that “seed” the atmosphere with greenhouse gasses than with cloud seeding.
“Climate change on top of natural weather and climate processes is the cause of much of the extreme weather that we are seeing across the world. Cloud seeding is used to make recalcitrant clouds produce some rain,” she says. “The thunderstorms themselves are much more likely to have caused the extreme flooding in Dubai due to climate change-fuelled intense rainfall—as is happening across the world.”
Our Foreign Staff
Wed, April 17, 2024
Torrential rain flooded roads, homes and malls and briefly halted operations at Dubai International Airport as storms lashed the Gulf on Tuesday.
Dubai, the Middle East’s financial centre, was paralysed by the heavy storms that caused widespread flooding around the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Flagship shopping centres Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates both suffered flooding, and water was ankle-deep at at least one Dubai Metro station.
Roads and residential communities also suffered heavy flooding in scenes repeated around the oil-rich Emirates, a desert country where rain is an unusual event.
The weather board urged residents to stay away from areas of flooding and water accumulation - BACKGRID
Roads in Dubai were flooded after torrential rain - Atif Bhatti/ESN/AFP via Getty Images
Schools were shut across the UAE and expected to remain closed on Wednesday, when further storms, including hail, are forecast.
Dubai Airport, the world’s busiest international hub measured by passenger traffic, temporarily suspended operations and cancelled more than 50 flights.
Videos on social media showed planes taxiing across an apron flooded with deep water.
“Due to the intense storm, operations were temporarily suspended for 25 minutes this afternoon, but have since re-commenced, and are now in recovery mode,” a Dubai Airports spokesman said.
Some inland areas of the UAE recorded more than 80mm of rain over 24 hours - Atif Bhatti/ESN/AFP via Getty Images
Heavy rain is an unusual event in the desert country - Jules Annan/Backgrid
The Asian Champions League football semi-final between the UAE’s Al Ain and Saudi side Al Hilal, due to be hosted in Al Ain, was postponed for 24 hours because of the weather.
Some inland areas of the UAE recorded more than 80 millimetres of rain over the 24 hours to 8am, approaching the annual average of about 100mm.
The weather board “urged residents to take all the precautions... and to stay away from areas of flooding and water accumulation”.
The storms in the region left at least 18 people dead in Oman.
Is Cloud Seeding to Blame for Floods? What to Know
Koh Ewe
TIME
Wed, April 17, 2024
A car is left on a flooded street following heavy rains in Dubai early on April 17, 2024. Credit - Giuseppe Cacace—AFP/Getty Images
In a place as dry as the desert city of Dubai, whenever they can get rain, they’ll take it.
United Arab Emirates authorities will often even try to make it rain—as they did earlier this week when the National Center of Meteorology dispatched planes to inject chemicals into the clouds to try to coax some showering.
But this time they got much more than they wanted. Dubai faced torrential downpours on Tuesday, with flooding shutting down much of the city, including schools and its major airport—killing at least one man whose car was swept away as well as at least 18 others in neighboring Oman, including a bus full of schoolchildren.
The UAE government media office said it was the heaviest rainfall recorded in 75 years and called it “an exceptional event.” More than a typical year’s worth of water was dumped on the country in a single day.
Now, many people are pointing a finger at the “cloud seeding” operations preceding the precipitation.
“Do you think the Dubai floods might have something to do with this?” popular social media account Wide Awake Media asked on X, alongside a clip of a news report on the UAE’s weather modification program.
But experts say that while cloud seeding may have enhanced the rainfall, pinning such a devastating downpour on it is misguided.
“It is very unlikely that cloud seeding would cause a flood,” Roslyn Prinsley, the head of disaster solutions at the Australian National University Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions, tells TIME, describing such claims as “conspiracy theories.”
It’s not the first time cloud seeding has been blamed for floods—in Dubai and around the world. In February, social media users charged officials working on a cloud seeding pilot program in California with causing storms that hit the state, despite the technology not even being used before the storms in question. And in Australia in 2022, as the nation down under experienced record rainfall, social media users recirculated an old news clip that questioned if there was a link between cloud seeding and flooding—to which fact-checkers answered: there isn’t.
Here’s what to know about cloud seeding, how and whether it even works, and what scientists say people should actually be worried about.
Wed, April 17, 2024
A car is left on a flooded street following heavy rains in Dubai early on April 17, 2024. Credit - Giuseppe Cacace—AFP/Getty Images
In a place as dry as the desert city of Dubai, whenever they can get rain, they’ll take it.
United Arab Emirates authorities will often even try to make it rain—as they did earlier this week when the National Center of Meteorology dispatched planes to inject chemicals into the clouds to try to coax some showering.
But this time they got much more than they wanted. Dubai faced torrential downpours on Tuesday, with flooding shutting down much of the city, including schools and its major airport—killing at least one man whose car was swept away as well as at least 18 others in neighboring Oman, including a bus full of schoolchildren.
The UAE government media office said it was the heaviest rainfall recorded in 75 years and called it “an exceptional event.” More than a typical year’s worth of water was dumped on the country in a single day.
Now, many people are pointing a finger at the “cloud seeding” operations preceding the precipitation.
“Do you think the Dubai floods might have something to do with this?” popular social media account Wide Awake Media asked on X, alongside a clip of a news report on the UAE’s weather modification program.
But experts say that while cloud seeding may have enhanced the rainfall, pinning such a devastating downpour on it is misguided.
“It is very unlikely that cloud seeding would cause a flood,” Roslyn Prinsley, the head of disaster solutions at the Australian National University Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions, tells TIME, describing such claims as “conspiracy theories.”
It’s not the first time cloud seeding has been blamed for floods—in Dubai and around the world. In February, social media users charged officials working on a cloud seeding pilot program in California with causing storms that hit the state, despite the technology not even being used before the storms in question. And in Australia in 2022, as the nation down under experienced record rainfall, social media users recirculated an old news clip that questioned if there was a link between cloud seeding and flooding—to which fact-checkers answered: there isn’t.
Here’s what to know about cloud seeding, how and whether it even works, and what scientists say people should actually be worried about.
How does cloud seeding work?
Cloud seeding basically works by artificially recreating the process by which rain and snow naturally occur: In normal clouds, microscopic droplets of water vapor are attracted to atmospheric aerosols like dust or pollen or salt from the sea. When enough water droplets converge around these nuclei, they form ice crystals and fall.
Clouds are seeded, typically by specially equipped aircraft but also by ground-based generators, by implanting particles, commonly silver iodide, in and around selected clouds to act as nuclei and trigger the precipitation process.
Does cloud seeding even work?
Since the futuristic-sounding weather modification technique was introduced in the 1940s, it has been used regularly across the world, from the UAE to China to the United States, for a wide range of intended purposes. Mostly employed by governments grappling with drought, cloud seeding has even found itself a part of some of the biggest events in history, from clearing urban pollution and ensuring blue skies at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, to staving away Moscow-bound radioactive clouds in the wake of a nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, to hampering the movement of U.S. enemies during the war in Vietnam. (Weather modification in warfare has since been banned by the U.N.)
For decades, a rain-scarce UAE has invested heavily in cloud seeding, including granting permanent residency to experts, and funding research programs to better identify the seedability of clouds.
But the science on just how effective cloud seeding is remains inconclusive. In 2003, the U.S. National Research Council concluded that “there still is no convincing scientific proof” of its efficacy at the time. A landmark 2020 study, however, found that cloud seeding does work—but researchers are clear about its limitations.
UAE meteorological officials say that their cloud seeding operations can increase rainfall by 10-30%, while Californian authorities’ estimates for their own program sit at 5-10%. The Desert Research Institute (DRI), the state of Nevada’s research group, says cloud seeding can increase seasonal precipitation by about 10%, while the World Meteorological Organization assessed in 2019 that the impacts of cloud seeding range from next to nothing to 20%. And success in producing rain depends significantly on atmospheric conditions such as wind and cloud temperatures.
That’s why experts agree that cloud seeding tends to get a bad rap from the public. Its impact is often overstated, and while it can enhance rainfall, other natural and unnatural factors play a much greater role in causing floods.
Are there any concerns about cloud seeding?
A number of myths are associated with cloud seeding, such as that it causes what’s known as “chem-trails,” cloud-like streaks of white in the sky. DRI says those are actually “jet contrails, and they are the aviation equivalent of visible plumes of steamy breath on a cold morning.” They have “no connection with cloud-seeding activities.”
But there are other reasons for skepticism about cloud seeding.
Critics argue that seeding clouds in one region may simply deprive another of rain, as the clouds will unleash precipitation before they were meant to. (Iran has for years accused its neighbors of “stealing their rain.”)
Others have expressed health concerns about the chemicals used to seed clouds. Silver iodide, a common substance used, may be toxic to animals, though others insist it is safe.
In a publication for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Laura Kuhl, a public policy professor at Northeastern University, argues that cloud seeding may do “more harm than good” due to these uncertainties and because, given its limited effectiveness, it promotes a sense of “techno-optimism” that “can obscure deeper structural drivers of vulnerability like unsustainable water use and unequal distribution of access to water.”
What’s to blame for floods?
The severity of the recent flooding in Dubai could be in large part because the perennially dry country hasn’t developed effective drainage infrastructure to deal with intense rainfall. But experts note that a major reason for such extreme weather events is climate change, since warmer air can hold more water, which then leads to heavier rainfall and floods in some areas.
Prinsley says that when it comes to dealing with global warming and increasingly destructive weather phenomenon, people should be more concerned about human activities that “seed” the atmosphere with greenhouse gasses than with cloud seeding.
“Climate change on top of natural weather and climate processes is the cause of much of the extreme weather that we are seeing across the world. Cloud seeding is used to make recalcitrant clouds produce some rain,” she says. “The thunderstorms themselves are much more likely to have caused the extreme flooding in Dubai due to climate change-fuelled intense rainfall—as is happening across the world.”
No comments:
Post a Comment