Viral posts blaming \u201cweather-control planes\u201d for July\u2019s deadly floods in Texas \u2014 and, by extension, last year\u2019s Hurricane Helene in North Carolina \u2014 are ricocheting across social media and even Capitol Hill. But atmospheric scientists say the physics simply don\u2019t add up.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou might squeeze out a few hundredths of an inch of extra rain, enough to help a farmer, nowhere near enough to flood a county,\u201d said Dr. Gary Lackmann, professor and head of atmospheric sciences at N.C. State University.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat cloud seeding can (and can\u2019t) do<\/p>\n
Cloud seeding, developed in the 1940s, involves releasing silver-iodide or dry-ice particles into cold clouds to jump-start precipitation. The technique is used primarily in the drought-stricken West, and any boost in rainfall is measured in sub-centimeter amounts, according to Rainmaker, a Texas firm that performs the service.<\/p>\n
Rainmaker\u2019s aircraft did fly a 20-minute seeding mission two days before last week\u2019s Texas deluge, but company CEO Augustus Doricko said the target area was \u201cwell outside the flood zone,\u201d and the effect of any seeding typically fades within an hour.<\/p>\n
“We’re talking about, like, sub centimeter amounts of precipitation, be it in snow or rain from every event, which in aggregate is very consequential for farmers and ecosystems, but cannot come close to causing flooding unto itself,” Doricko said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lackmann concurs. \u201cYou can influence a local shower,\u201d he said, \u201cbut you can\u2019t manufacture a stalled tropical plume that dumps a foot of rain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThe real fuel: record-warm seas<\/p>\n
What did super-charge both storms, Lackmann says, was water vapor pulled from unusually warm oceans.<\/p>\n
\u201cParts of the Atlantic off North Carolina are running four degrees Celsius above average,\u201d he said. \u201cWarmer water means more moisture and more fuel for extreme downpours.\u201d<\/p>\n
For every degree Celsius of warming, the atmosphere can hold roughly 4-7% more water vapor, a relationship scientists have understood since the 1820s.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tA push for a statewide ban<\/p>\n
Still, the optics of planes in the sky and flooded streets on the ground have raised political alarms. Rep. Jonathan Almond (R-Cabarrus) introduced House Bill 362, which would prohibit cloud seeding, stratospheric aerosol injection and other forms of geoengineering in North Carolina.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to put a pause on any program until we understand why \u2018hundred-year\u2019 storms are hitting so often,\u201d Almond said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really don\u2019t know the full repercussions of weather modification,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s time to set guardrails to protect North Carolinians.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least 30 states have considered similar measures, and Tennessee enacted a ban earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tNo current NC projects<\/p>\n
A review of federal Weather Modification Project Reports, NOAA databases and state permits shows no commercial or government cloud-seeding operations in North Carolina, past or present. The only documented activity was a feasibility study for hydropower interests in the Yadkin River basin; the project never launched.<\/p>\n
Lackmann worries the legislative focus misses the bigger culprit: greenhouse-gas warming.<\/p>\n
\u201cBurning fossil fuels is the largest unintentional geoengineering experiment on Earth,\u201d he said. \u201cThat experiment is absolutely linked to the spike in extreme rain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tEPA weighs in<\/p>\n
Adding to the debate, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Thursday directed the public to new agency web pages on contrails and geoengineering, writing that Americans \u201cdeserve straight answers.\u201d The site states plainly that the U.S. government is not conducting outdoor solar-radiation or stratospheric aerosol projects.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s next<\/p>\n
HB 362 has yet to receive a committee hearing, but Almond hopes the national spotlight will speed action. Critics counter that the bill chases a problem that doesn\u2019t exist and risks stifling legitimate research into drought relief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Viral posts blaming \u201cweather-control planes\u201d for July\u2019s deadly floods in Texas \u2014 and, by extension, last year\u2019s Hurricane…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-3314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}