Thursday, Jul. 17, 2025
Are extreme weather events such as flash floods the result of weaponized weather control?
Though weather modification occurs in the form of cloud seeding, the practice and its effects are distinct from weather control and cannot create or manipulate extreme weather events.
Cloud seeding technology, invented in 1946, adds tiny silver iodide crystals to existing clouds, boosting their ability to produce rain or snow. By providing particles for snowflakes to form, the crystals mimic the water droplets and ice crystal particles that are required for precipitation. That is ineffective on storm systems already producing precipitation.
Despite the National Research Council’s 2003 stance, shared by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, that the efficacy of such weather modification lacks convincing evidence, several multi-year cloud seeding projects have seen 10%-15% increases in snowfall per year since then.
This diffused increase in precipitation is distinct from the concentrated, excessive rainfall of thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tropical storms, which are typically responsible for flash flooding, including all of Oklahoma’s historically significant floods.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Idaho Department of Water Resources History of Cloud Seeding
- Desert Research Institute Cloud Seeding Program
- National Geographic What is cloud seeding? Here's what it can—and can't—do to the weather
- National Academies Critical Issues in Weather Modification Research
- U.S. Goverement Accountability Office Cloud Seeding Technology: Assessing Effectiveness and Other Challenges
- National Weather Service Flash floods and floods...the Awesome Power
- National Weather Service Flooding in Oklahoma
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