Did Cloud Seeding In UAE Caused Dubai Flooding? (image-instagram/hari_dnarods_48)The United Arab Emirates recorded the heaviest rainfall in 75 years. The desert land was soaked in 25 cm of rain in just 24 hours. The Tuesday storm has dumped more than a year and a half’s rain in just a few hours. The rain caused flooding on roads as well as at the Dubai International Airport.
UAE’s neighbouring country Oman has also witnessed heavy rain and flooding that killed at least 20 people. When the chaos engulfed Dubai city, speculation was at rife on social media linking the cloud seeding to the recent flood. However, experts have denied the possibility, stating that the climatic changes in the region has caused the flooding.
What is the Cloud Seeding Process?
Cloud seeding is a method used in the United Arab Emirates to increase rainfall in the country. The process involves manipulating existing clouds to help produce more rain. And this can be done by using aircraft to drop small particles into clouds.
Water vapours can then easily condense and turn into rain. In the hours that followed the floods, some of the social media users wrongly attributed the extreme weather solely to recent cloud seeding operations in the country.
But debunking the speculations, Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said “If that occurred with cloud seeding, they’d have water all the time. You can’t create rain out of thin air per se and get 6 inches [152.4mm] of water,” reports Al Jazeera.
The experts say that the deluge was likely due to the normal weather system that was exacerbated by climate change. As per the reports, the intense downpours were a result of a slow-moving storm that moved across the Arabian Peninsula and into the Gulf of Oman over several days. This storm picked up abundant tropical moisture from near the equator and released it heavily over the region.
The experts further stated that global warming has caused global temperatures to rise leading to more extreme weather conditions around the world, including intense rainfall.
As per the Guardian report, the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM), which oversees cloud-seeding operations in UAE said that there was no cloud-seeding operation before or during the storm.
The experts also said that cloud seeding is used for clouds that don’t normally produce rain and cannot be used to develop a very severe storm. The process is mainly used when conditions of wind, moisture and dust are insufficient to lead to rain. In the last week, forecasters have warned of a high flooding risk across the Gulf.