Cloud seeding likely to have led to heavy rains in the UAE this week

The sudden heavy rainfall and thunderstorms witnessed in the UAE this week is likely to have been caused by cloud seeding.

Cloudy weather conditions began in the UAE on Saturday, with parts of the country witnessing heavy rains accompanied by lightning, thunder and even hail on Sunday.

Read: Videos: Heavy rains, hail hit parts of the UAE

The National Centre of Meteorology has been “active in cloud seeding operations, due to the accumulation of the abundant convective clouds over the UAE in several areas (specifically in the eastern and southern terrains) within the last few days,” the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science revealed on Twitter on Monday.

#NCM has been active in cloud seeding operations, due to the accumulation of the abundant convective clouds over the UAE in several areas (specifically in the Eastern & Southern terrains) within the last few days pic.twitter.com/AkPEBX3S3v

— UAEREP (@UAEREP) May 20, 2019

From January to early April this year, the NCM conducted 88 cloud seeding missions, according to media reports.

The NCM carries out seeding operations in conjunction with weather radars. Special planes fitted with flares fire potassium chloride, sodium chloride and magnesium into clouds during operations that last between two and three hours, according to reports.

The process of rain seeding is hoped to help boost the ground water supply in the country.

Here’s how the process works –