Rainmaker Partners With Atmo To Squeeze More Rain From Clouds

Cloud seeding startup Rainmaker is partnering pinch Atmo, an AI-powered meteorology startup, nan companies exclusively told TechCrunch.

The 2 run connected complementary ends of nan upwind system: Atmo studies atmospheric patterns to forecast upwind events, while Rainmaker digests specified information successful an effort to compression much precipitation retired of upwind systems.

Under nan partnership, Atmo will usage its heavy learning models to thief Rainmaker place clouds that person imaginable for seeding. The forecasting startup will besides connection Rainmaker’s unreality seeding services, deployed via mini drones, to its customers. 

For its part, Rainmaker will lend information from its proprietary radar strategy to find really overmuch rainfall nan clouds produced.

Rainmaker has been successful nan news of late, targeted by conspiracy theorists who claim that nan startup’s unreality seeding operations successful Texas played a domiciled successful caller floods successful nan state.

But according to respective scientists TechCrunch said with, that’s simply not possible.

“Somebody is looking for personification to blame,” Bob Rauber, a professor of atmospheric sciences astatine nan University of Illinois, told TechCrunch last week. 

Though unreality seeding tin nudge clouds to driblet much precipitation, it’s a mini magnitude compared pinch nan size of a storm. One well-documented lawsuit successful Idaho released an further 186 cardinal gallons of precipitation, which pales successful comparison pinch nan “trillions of gallons of water” a ample large wind will process, Rauber said.

Cloud seeding is wide utilized passim nan Western United States, mostly to augment snowpack and boost nan magnitude of h2o that ends up successful reservoirs successful nan summer. While it’s besides utilized successful places for illustration West Texas to coax much rainfall from summertime storms, nan results person been modest.

The West Texas Weather Modification Association, which Rainmaker has worked pinch previously, says that unreality seeding successful nan region has boosted precipitation by astir 15%, aliases astir 2 inches, per year.

The apt logic for that is because nan types of clouds floating complete West Texas don’t respond successful nan aforesaid measurement arsenic clouds successful mountainous regions for illustration nan Western U.S., Rauber said. Rainstorms are moreover little responsive, he added, since they’re already primed to driblet plentifulness of precipitation.