A Cloud Seeding Startup Did Not Cause The Texas Floods

In nan aftermath of a disaster, it’s not uncommon for group to look for answers anyplace they tin find them. The devastating floods successful Texas are nary exception.

There are galore imaginable reasons why truthful galore group were killed by nan swiftly rising waters, but 1 that immoderate group person settled connected is simply a believe known arsenic unreality seeding. They declare that a unreality seeding startup known arsenic Rainmaker caused nan large wind to driblet much rainfall than it different would have. However, nan information does not backmost up their concerns.

It’s existent that Rainmaker was operating successful that area a fewer days earlier nan storm, but contempt nan online chatter, “cloud seeding had thing to do” pinch nan floods, said Katja Friedrich, an atmospheric intelligence astatine nan University of Colorado Boulder.

“It’s conscionable a complete conspiracy theory. Somebody is looking for personification to blame,” Bob Rauber, a professor of atmospheric sciences astatine nan University of Illinois, told TechCrunch.

Cloud seeding is thing new. It has been practiced since nan 1950s, Rauber said. It useful by spraying mini particles into clouds, usually made of metallic iodide.

Silver iodide particles mimic nan style of crystal crystals, truthful erstwhile they bump into super-cooled h2o droplets — water that remains liquid beneath nan freezing constituent — they trigger nan droplets to frost into ice. That freezing is important, Rauber said. Ice crystals turn successful size faster than super-cooled h2o drops, meaning they are much apt to seizure capable h2o vapor to go ample capable to autumn retired of nan cloud. If they had remained arsenic super-cooled water, there’s a bully chance they would yet evaporate.

Only clouds that person a capable magnitude of super-cooled h2o are bully candidates for unreality seeding.

In nan U.S., astir unreality seeding occurs successful nan wintertime adjacent upland ranges successful nan West. There, clouds shape arsenic nan mountains push nan aerial higher, causing it to cool and nan h2o vapor to condense. If decently seeded, specified clouds will merchandise immoderate of that h2o arsenic snow, which is past held captive arsenic snowpack, forming a earthy reservoir that, during outpouring melts, recharges artificial reservoirs held down dams.

Though group person been seeding clouds for decades, its effect connected precipitation is simply a newer area of study. “We really didn’t person nan technologies to measure it until recently,” Rauber said.

In early 2017, Friedrich, Rauber, and their colleagues group up shop successful Idaho to execute 1 of nan astir elaborate studies of unreality seeding to date. On 3 occasions, they seeded clouds for a full of 2 hours and 10 minutes. It was capable to adhd astir 186 cardinal gallons of further precipitation.

That mightiness sound for illustration a lot, and for drought-stricken Western states, it tin make a difference. Idaho Power seeds galore clouds passim nan wintertime to boost nan magnitude of h2o being collected down their dams truthful they tin make energy passim nan year. “Their information shows that it’s cost-effective for them,” Rauber said.

But compared pinch a large storm, 186 cardinal gallons is peanuts. “When we talk astir that immense large wind that occurred pinch nan flooding [in Texas], we’re virtually talking astir nan ambiance processing trillions of gallons of water,” he said.

If Rainmaker influenced nan storm, it was truthful minuscule that it would hardly person been a rounding error. But nan reality is, it didn’t.

For starters, nan institution was seeding adjacent clouds days earlier nan large wind hit. “The aerial that was complete that area 2 days earlier was astir apt location complete Canada by nan clip that large wind occurred,” Rauber said.

Second, it’s not clear whether unreality seeding is arsenic effective successful nan cumulus clouds that hap successful Texas successful nan summer. They’re chopped from nan orographic clouds that shape adjacent upland ranges, and they don’t respond nan aforesaid to unreality seeding. For one, they thin to beryllium short-lived and don’t nutrient a batch of precipitation.

Cloud seeders mightiness effort to coax much retired of them anyway, but “the magnitude of rainfall that comes retired of those seeded clouds is small,” Rauber said.

Those that do past agelong enough? “Clouds that are deep, for illustration thunderstorms, nan earthy processes are conscionable fine,” he said. “Those clouds are very efficient. Seeding those clouds is not going to do anything.”