In the aftermath of the catastrophic flash flooding in Central Texas, false claims have spread online blaming the disaster on a decades-old weather modification technique called cloud seeding.
Posts suggesting a connection between the deadly floods and a small cloud seeding operation that was carried out in the region days earlier have been shared widely on social media, amassing millions of views.
Rainmaker Technology, a California-based company, confirmed it conducted a cloud seeding operation in the region on July 2. However, meteorologists say the operation had no connection to the flash floods that struck two days later.
Experts told CBS News that cloud seeding, a process that involves dispersing substances like silver iodide into clouds to encourage rainfall, is not powerful enough to have caused or contributed to the flooding. The deluge resulted from heavy rainfall when storms converged with the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry.
Some prominent politicians have repeatedly promoted conspiracy theories linking weather modification to natural disasters, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. This week, the Republican congresswoman promoted legislation that would make weather modification a felony and shared a photo of Rainmaker's CEO in a social media post criticizing cloud seeding. Her office has not responded to CBS News' request for comment.
Developed in the 1940s, dozens of countries have tried cloud seeding to enhance...
Charles Dickens famously wrote in Oliver Twist: “the law is a ass—a idiot.” There is little doubt that myriad of Long Island business owners would ruefully agree when trying to make sense of verdi...