Severe floods hit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this week, marking the heaviest rainfall in over 75 years. A record 254mm (10 inches) of rain fell in Al Ain, surpassing the country’s annual average.
The downpour caused highways to flood, stranded vehicles, and disrupted flights at one of the world’s busiest airports. The floods resulted in the deaths of 20 people, and the recovery is expected to be slow, as many areas lack proper drainage due to the typically desert climate.
The extreme weather has raised questions about cloud seeding, a weather-modification technique that involves releasing chemicals or salt particles into the air to encourage precipitation.
Floodwaters inundate UAE streets as the country experiences its most significant rainfall in decades.However, experts and officials have denied that cloud seeding was involved in this storm. The UAE’s National Center of Meteorology (NCM) stated that no cloud-seeding operations occurred before or during the storm.
Experts assert that cloud seeding could not have caused such heavy rain. The process is typically used to enhance precipitation from clouds that wouldn’t otherwise produce significant rainfall.
Instead, climate change is likely to have played a role in the severity of the storm. Rising global temperatures, driven by human activity, are leading to more extreme weather events, including intense rainfall.
While cloud seeding remains a valuable tool for increasing water supply in drought-prone areas, it cannot create water from nothing. It simply encourages existing moisture to fall as precipitation. Experts emphasize that cloud seeding is not a solution to droughts, but rather a supplementary tool in managing water resources.