Q&A of the Day – Is the Weather Being Manipulated?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: Today’s note was submitted via talkback asking about potential weather manipulation.
Bottom Line: To some the idea of weather manipulation may seem entirely conspiratorial. In reality, weather manipulation is reality. Attempts to physically modify weather are about as old as recorded human history. In the United States efforts began about 50 years into our history. The first official weather manipulation attempt occurred in the 1830’s when the U.S. Army hired experimental meteorologist James P. Espy. Espy held the theory that droughts could be addressed by burning brush and trees in mountain ranges (among other theories). Under his theory burning mountains would provide the heat, smoke, and particulate matter needed to trigger storms and enhance the nation’s rainfall. He proposed that mountains should be burned every Sunday. Congress shut this theory down by refusing to fund it. But while that attempt was unsuccessful, there have been many other attempts to manipulate the weather that have been funded and some that have seemingly been successful.
The first documented weather manipulation efforts that were government backed in the US occurred in the early 1920’s. Following World War I it became a Defense Department objective to disperse fog for the ability to better conduct military operations. An experimental project called FIDO, the Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation was carried out between 1921 and 1925. The project used electrified sand to attempt to disperse fog and even clouds at higher altitudes. This project became mainstream news when it was highlighted in the May 1923 issue of Popular Science Monthly. However, by 1925 it became clear that the theory was incorrect, and the military pulled the plug on the project. The next big known development occurred when a Nobel winning engineer with General Electric teamed with the U.S. military to attempt to steer a hurricane in 1947 away from the U.S. mainland via cloud seeding. The category 2 hurricane, known as the “King Hurricane”, promptly made a beeline for Savannah after the seeding and steering attempt...that was the end of the hurricane project of that era. That wasn’t however, the end of the cloud seeding experiment.
Over the next two years a total of 15 cloud seeding tests were carried out over the Hawaiian Islands. The tactic employed was the use of dry ice dropped into cloud formations. In the end the tests were too few in number to be considered scientifically conclusive however, according to the published study, it was said: “large rainfall values associated with seeded clouds are of particular interest”. In other words, it’s believed that there was an impact.
These types of projects have continued with various entities, often government-backed, around the world ever since – with cloud seeding specifically being a common form of attempted weather manipulation. Since 1979 public disclosure of weather modification projects has been mandated. NOAA maintains the reports of these projects on their website. And that provides the first answer to today’s Q&A. The listener wanted to know what if any role the State of Florida/Governor DeSantis had played in cloud seeding. To the extent that DeSantis and the state have weighed in – it's been to outlaw the private practice of it. Florida’s updated statues on Weather Modification State:
- No person without securing a license from the department, shall cause or attempt to cause by artificial means condensation or precipitation of rain, snow, hail, moisture or water in any form contained in the atmosphere, or shall prevent or attempt to prevent by artificial means the natural condensation or precipitation of rain, snow, hail, moisture or water in any form contained in the atmosphere.
As for ongoing weather modification projects...all known related projects are directed by the federal government through NOAA. As is noted by NOAA: Currently, the most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding, which increases rain or snow, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water supply.
There are a total of 1,012 entries (disclosures) listed on their website. Of those, 97 have reported activity within the past year. There’s obviously been a lot of activity. Of the most recent weather manipulation events all have been aimed at increasing the snowpack in western mountain ranges and/or increasing precipitation in drought-stricken areas between Texas and California. As for what’s happening closest to home... I was unable to find any examples of activity in or near Florida currently. The most recent cloud seeding event I’ve found documentation for occurred in 2021 for the purpose of attempting to address a drought.
I am aware of various other theories about weather manipulation including what some have called the “Antarctic anomaly frequency” that’s claimed to be heating the Atlantic Ocean - causing the record recorded heat we’ve experienced in Florida (among other states). I don’t broker in conspiracy theories that can’t be substantiated. Occasionally conspiracy theories turn out to be fact. In my experience, having researched more of them than I can come close to remembering, the vast majority don’t. As always there are two sides to stories and one side to facts. The known facts pertaining to cloud seeding specifically is that there’s a lot of it that has been taking place for decades and still is taking place in multiple states, but it doesn’t appear that Florida is currently one of them.