Why more countries are turning to weather modification

Countries around the world are increasingly turning to the decades-old technique of manipulating the weather as part of an effort to control when and where it rains.

Besides the USA and China boasts France, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest weather-altering program, make up a growing list of countries experimenting with cloud seeding.

For many, the adoption of rainmaking operations is driven by the need to increase water supplies as global demand continues to rise amid the climate crisis.

Others have tried to use cloud seeding to disperse smog at airports, combat air pollution, reduce hail damage, and even manipulate weather patterns for major events. 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

Cloud seeding aims to improve a cloud’s ability to produce rain or snow by introducing small particles. usually silver iodide. The process is limited in both area and duration and is predicted to increase local precipitation by 5% to 15% over time.

But the concept is not without controversy. Cloud seeding experiments have raised potential concerns since they were first conducted in the 1940s. environmental and ecological risks and excited regional security tensionswith countries accuse each other of stealing rain.

Augustus Doricko, CEO of Rainmaker, a California-based cloud seeding company, said two dynamics are at play that are reviving people’s interest in technology both in the U.S. and around the world.

“One is a really fair one, that many of these countries and regions are experiencing greater variability in climate, rainfall patterns and water resources, leading them to have to be more creative than they have in the past,” Doricko told CNBC by phone. he said.

“Two, and I think it’s the real meat and potatoes of why Rainmaker started, it’s because there have been some fundamental breakthroughs in measuring and attributing cloud seeding effects in the last few years.”

Despite an 80-year history, Doricko said interest in cloud seeding “really dropped off” in the 1970s and 1980s because it was difficult to accurately measure how much precipitation was achieved from cloud seeding deployments.

Doricko said recent technological advances now make it possible to verify the success of these deployments in real time.

The company, which says it plans to stop the aridification of the American West, has grown rapidly in recent months, going from just 19 employees at the beginning of 2025 to 120 today; This seems to underscore the growing interest in cloud seeding.

But despite the name, Doricko said the company’s cloud seeding projects are mostly designed to make it snow.

“Turns out I named the company wrong, and ‘Snowmaker’ would probably be a better fit. It doesn’t look good in terms of value,” Doricko said.

He added: “I think the most important thing for Rainmaker to do this season is to establish clear evidence of man-made snow, and to do it so often that it is undeniably a viable and scalable technology.”

Other US-based cloud seeding companies include North Dakota’s Weather Modification Inc. and North American Weather Consultants in Utah; however, some US states, such as Florida and Tennessee, have banned weather modification activities.

In terms of state-level support, China reportedly It supported the weather modification program with $2 billion between 2014 and 2021, while Saudi Arabia spent $256 million in 2022 to support the first year of its regional cloud seeding program.

authorities in Iran reportedly Late last year, they tried to increase rainfall to combat the country’s worst drought in decades by spraying chemicals on clouds over the Lake Urmia basin.

However, such projects are not always successful. A team from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur along with the government of Delhi mixed results have recently been reported Following a cloud seeding trial to combat air pollution in India’s capital.

IIT had said in a statement at the time that its attempt was “not entirely successful” due to the lack of moisture in the air, then added that there was a measurable reduction in particulate matter after the experiment.

Cloud seeding can “modestly increase” precipitation in the right conditions, said Diana Francis, head of the Environmental and Geophysical Sciences laboratory at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi.

“But this is incremental, not transformative, and works best as part of a broader water and air quality strategy,” Francis told CNBC via email.

Cloud seeding operations can typically cost between $1 and $10 per hectare of additional water, Francis said, noting that this is much cheaper than desalination, although this varies widely.

Francis said there are other important caveats to consider, such as a strong dependence on cloud microphysics (given that cloud seeding only works in existing clouds), attribution issues, and potential geopolitical and legal issues regarding downwind impacts.

Studies have shown that previous silver iodide cloud seeding projects had no significant impact on human health or the environment. based on More research is needed to evaluate windward impacts.

The UN weather agency also acknowledged that significant challenges remain evident in public, social and local acceptance of rainmaking operations.