Mexico is seeding clouds to make rain — scientists aren’t sure it works
Farmers in Mexico desperate for rain are asking their government to ‘bomb’ the clouds. The country is experiencing its second-worst drought in a decade, and farmers are afraid for their crops and livestock. So they’ve asked the Mexican government to use cloud-seeding technology to help them. In March, the National Commission for Arid Zones (Conaza), a branch of the country’s agriculture ministry, announced that it would launch a rain-stimulation programme in the northeastern and northwestern states of Tamaulipas and Baja California, respectively. … Mostly, there is “theoretical evidence” that cloud seeding can increase precipitation, says Fernando García, a cloud physicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. Some rigorous experiments have resulted in a modest increase in precipitation. But there is no evidence that it will work every time, García says.