Dubai has come up with a genius way to combat its scorching 50C/122F temperature problem by creating ‘enhanced rain.’
The United Arab Emirates city has been going through hellish summers and in response, the National Center of Meteorology has started using drones that fire electrical charges into clouds, causing them to clump together and create precipitation.
The NCM has shared video materials of monsoon-like rain drenching roads and igniting flashes of lightning.
‘Cloud-seeding’ has played a major role in creating more showers in a country that typically only sees four inches per year, which is much less than the 33 inches normally seen in the United Kingdom.
Naturally, rain and strong winds limit visibility on roads and create difficult driving conditions, and people have been warned that more harsh weather may be coming up as they celebrate Eid Al Adha this week.
Cloud seeding is one of 9 different rain-making inventions the UAE has been using since 2017.
Another technique involves spraying salt or other chemical substances into clouds to force precipitation.
Other studies have shown that rainfall can be increased by as much as 35% even though some scientists doubt its actual efficacy.
Cloud seeding has also been used in other countries such as India and China.
The technique can also be used to stop rainfall and potential flooding, as seen in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2020.
According to Professor Maarten Ambaum, from the University of Reading – who has been working on one of the projects in the UAE – the Emirates have had enough clouds to form conditions that allow for rain.
He said that the tech works ‘like dry hair to a comb’ because it uses a drone to send out electrical charges into the clouds, which helps the drops of water to mix and form precipitation.
“When the drops merge and are big enough, they will fall as rain,” Professor Ambaum added.
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