A severe drought is currently hitting the eastern Horn of Africa. Many regions are facing critical levels of food insecurity as three rainy seasons have come and gone without a drip of relief. Families in east Africa are facing a dire situation for their relatives, livestock and crops — they’re in desperate need of rain. Cloud seeding could be the solution.

Could it truly give them the help they need? Is cloud seeding the answer to drought? Let’s analyze the complicated answer to these questions.

What Is Cloud Seeding?

Seeding improves a cloud’s ability to create precipitation, just as you would sow seeds in the dirt. Scientists do this by adding more ice particles to clouds so they have a greater chance of forming water or ice droplets.

Air- and ground-based methods are available. Members of the Desert Research Institute use ground-based generators with silver iodide to increase the potential for ice in passing storm systems. They burn the mixture with the silver that ascends to the clouds, helping them form ice nuclei. However, they can’t do this without moisture-filled clouds.

The process is a bit like hardening off seeds, which farmers do to acclimate their seedlings to the surrounding environment before planting them. Introducing silver iodide to the clouds gives the moisture already present in them a better opportunity to make snow or rain.

Examples of Successful Cloud Seeding

This process is still relatively new in practice, so it still needs a lot of research to determine if it’s effective. However, a few examples of cloud seeding have increased pockets of rainfall around Africa.

In 1997, scientists in South Africa experimented with flares on aircraft that released salt particles to see if it genuinely would create more rainfall. Luckily, their hypothesis proved fruitful. Through analysis, they concluded seeding improved precipitation efficiency and brought up the idea of creating an algorithm to determine if an attempt was successful.

Recently, a cloud seeding experiment has been going on in Niger. Researchers haven’t yet published the results, as the process will continue until the end of September. They only started doing this work at the beginning of August, so it will likely take some time to see how cloud seeding has eased their drought conditions.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) also utilizes cloud seeding. Other countries have wondered if the process is worth the expense, but the UAE is using nanotechnology to improve production and offset water usage.

The Potential Downsides

Cloud seeding is not a one-and-done solution. Clouds naturally form and dissipate as their moisture changes. Scientists must perform cloud seeding repeatedly, which some worry about when they use aircraft. Doing so frequently during the hot, dry summer months could create more greenhouse gases than the planet can take.

Additionally, it’s not an exact science. The UAE has found a lot of success with cloud seeding, but it also experienced a flood in Dubai in 2019. Researchers also don’t know if the seeding will take and where it will end up raining. Rains that end up in an already damp area could lead to sinkholes and detrimental destruction from flooding.

There also must be developments to find out where seeding would be most effective. Some clouds do not contain enough moisture to create rain, making them poor seeding candidates. Luckily, the United States and UAE are working together on artificial intelligence that could help them determine which clouds would be the most productive.

Some scientists also question if cloud seeding actually works. Weather is incredibly fickle, so it’s difficult to tell if seeding or changing patterns created the precipitation with no lab conditions. Some reports show it didn’t produce enough snow to offset the warming climate.

Cloud Seeding Is an Imperfect Answer to Drought

Cloud seeding sounds promising, but it requires the proper conditions to take. It’s also somewhat unpredictable, so there’s no guarantee the areas that need rain most will receive it after seeding. However, trying it out in regions with dire drought conditions might help provide the water required for survival.