It can make existing moisture in the air fall as rain where you want it to. Like over a water reservoir.

But it obviously can't create more moisture than already is in the air.

Apparently there are companies trying similar things in the US - https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2025/11/13/cloud-seedin...

First I'd heard of it... though Salt Lake City did just have its rainiest October on record.

It works to e.g. prompt hail to fall outside of cities rather than directly onto cities.

I think it's used in Mendoza (Argentina). They have very clean air, and sometimes they get big hailstorm the size of a gold ball. With the seeds, they get instead a lot of small ice crystals that (mostly?) melt while falling and are not harmful for people or farms. IIUC it's the same amount of water in the same place, but in a friendlier formfactor.

No, and explanations on how it could work are implausible.

Dubai has an entire active operation. It looks like it does work, but how well is debated. Seems to have enough of an impact (correlation or causation) that they haven't shut it down yet.

Governments spending money on something doesn't mean it works. Bridges to nowhere are totally a thing

> Bridges to nowhere are totally a thing

Come on now. It's not nowhere, there's 24 people living on that island, of course that's worth building a $45 million bridge for them[1].

(just the latest silly bridge project here in Norway)

[1]: https://www.nrk.no/nordland/nordland-fylkesrad-vil-bygge-bro...

Autotranslaton:

> However, there are only 24 permanent residents and five active farms on Hamnøya. Therefore, there is regular transport of tankers, concentrate feed and livestock trucks.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamn%C3%B8ya,_Vevelstad

> Hamnøya is an island in Vevelstad Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The 16.6-square-kilometre (6.4 sq mi) island lies about 500 to 700 metres (0.3 to 0.4 mi) off shore from the mainland of the municipality, separated by the Vevelstadsundet strait. The island is only accessible by boat and in 2021 it had 35 permanent residents living on the island.

I'm not sure if it's cheaper to upgrade both posts, but a bridge doesn't look so silly.

It's at least better value than the once-proposed ~$400 million Gravina Island bridge in Alaska -- to serve 50 residents and an airport

Yeah, because Dubai is known for their prudent financials. Lol.

the U.S did experiments in Vietnam that were fairly promising back in the 70s

Operation Popeye

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Popeye

Sure. Ski resorts in Utah do it all the time to make it snow.

The UAE has partnered with the US and NASA on cloud seeding research, and the US has been doing it for decades

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/18/united-arab-emirates-is-usin...

The Chinese pretty blatantly used it to tailor things for their Olympics.

I’m a little surprised how this has gone under the radar,

considering the black box “effing with the weather cycles” truly is.

Considering it is done for many years all over the world no reason that particular should be on anyone's radar.

No, the concept - not the “China” detail.

It’s being discussed here (and elsewhere) like the US company talking about it is broaching a new concept.

Ski resorts in the US have been doing it for a long time.

No need to point the finger at the nasty Chinese.

See other comment.

It has some effect, but it’s not an easy solution.

It’s more of a modulator on top of weather, not a switch you can flip to induce as much rain as you want on demand.