Some have wondered if these powerful storms could be controlled or manipulated in the wake of deadly hurricanes like Milton and Helene.
Experts say that the sheer scale and energy of hurricanes exceed current human capabilities to influence them.
But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-G.A., is questioning the official accounts. She recently posted a conspiracy theory on social media claiming the government can control the weather through a controversial method called “cloud seeding.”
“Yes, they can control the weather,” Greene wrote Thursday evening. “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”
Take a look —
Yes they can control the weather.
It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) October 4, 2024
Which begs the question: What is cloud seeding — and is it dangerous?
In nature, water droplets in clouds form around tiny particles of dust or salt in the air. These particles are called “nuclei” – think of them as the “seeds” that raindrops or snowflakes grow around.
Cloud seeding is when we add extra “seeds” to the clouds. The most common “seed” used is a substance called silver iodide. Seeders tend to look for clouds that are cold enough and have enough moisture to make rain or snow, but need help to get started.
On the ground, special machines can burn a solution containing silver iodide, creating a smoke that rises into the clouds.
And from the air, small airplanes will fly through the clouds, releasing the silver iodide directly into them.
The silver iodide particles act like those natural dust or salt particles. Water in the cloud starts to freeze around them, growing bigger and heavier. When these newly formed ice crystals or water droplets get heavy enough, they fall from the cloud as snow or rain.
Cloud seeding is most often used in the winter to try to increase snowfall in mountainous areas. This is because snow that falls in the mountains melts slowly over spring and summer, providing a steady supply of water for rivers and streams.
It’s also sometimes used in dry areas to try to increase rainfall, or even to try to reduce the size of hailstones in storms.
Cloud seeding isn’t magic – it can’t make rain or snow appear out of thin air. It only works when conditions are already close to producing precipitation.
But it’s powerful. Studies have shown that cloud seeding can increase snowfall by about 5-15% in the right conditions — and over a whole winter season in a large area, that adds up significantly.
The level of danger caused by cloud seeding is controversial. Although not proven, deadly floods in Dubai this April were suspected by some observers to be caused by cloud seeding.
And in central China in September, residents in Chongqing blamed cloud seeding on storms so severe that underwear was seen falling from the skies.
Experts deny, though, that Hurricanes Helene and Milton resulted from weather manipulation.
Dr. Kristen Corbosiero, a professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at the University at Albany, told The Associated Press plainly: “If meteorologists could stop hurricanes, we would stop hurricanes.”
Dr. Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, notes that warmer oceans provide more energy to storms, while a warmer atmosphere can hold more water, leading to increased rainfall.
Cloud seeding and weather manipulation attempts aren’t new, of course. Historically, past U.S. efforts to control the weather have had various degrees of success:
- In 1947, a partnership between General Electric and the U.S. military attempted to weaken a hurricane by dropping dry ice from planes. The experiment failed.
- From the 1960s to 1980s, the federal government’s Project STORMFURY tried to replace hurricane eyewalls with larger ones to reduce storm intensity. Results were inconclusive, and the project was eventually abandoned.
- Proposals to use nuclear weapons against hurricanes have been repeatedly dismissed due to insufficient power and the danger of radioactive fallout.
While direct control of hurricanes remains beyond human capability, some scientists have been exploring geoengineering approaches to weather manipulation.
Solar geoengineering, which involves reflecting sunlight back into space using aerosol particles in the upper atmosphere, is being studied as a potential method to cool the planet.
And the American Geophysical Union is developing an ethics framework for “climate intervention” research.