Cloud Seeding: What you need to know
Many people are talking about cloud seeding after the deadly flooding in the Texas Hill Country. FOX 7 meteorologist Adaleigh Rowe breaks down what cloud seeding is and what it does.
Following the devastating Fourth of July weekend flooding in Central Texas, many people have started to bring up cloud seeding.
There has been a lot of misinformation about what cloud seeding can and cannot do.
FOX 7’s Adaleigh Rowe looks to clear up some common misconceptions.
Is cloud seeding real?
AL AIN, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – JANUARY 31: Hygroscopic (water-attracting) salt flares released below a cloud during a routine cloud-seeding mission on January 31, 2024 in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique
Yes. Cloud seeding is a weather technique used to get more precipitation out of existing clouds.
How do clouds form?
To explain cloud seeding, first you need to know how clouds form.
Clouds form when water vapor and gas rises, cools and condenses into liquid water droplets. Those droplets collide and condense on tiny particles that are floating in the air, called condensation nuclei.
Condensation nuclei can be various things, like dust, pollen, pollution and salt from ocean spray.
When the water droplets get too heavy to stay in the cloud, they fall to earth as rain and snow.
How does cloud seeding work?
Infographic explaining the cloud seeding process, a method of artificial rainmaking (Graphic by Laurence CHU / AFP via Getty Images)
Planes use chemical flares to release silver iodide into the clouds.
Silver iodide crystals are nearly identical to ice crystals.
Water droplets are super-cooled to less that 32 degrees to freeze the silver iodide and the resulting ice crytals begin to stick together, condense and then fall as snow.
As the water freezes, it releases heat, which rises. The updrafts lift moist air into the cloud, resulting in more precipitation.
Cloud seeding only increases rain or snow chances by about 10 percent for the targeted clouds.
How long does cloud seeding last?
The effect of cloud seeding usually lasts for a few hours.
Did cloud seeding happen before the Texas floods?
Some cloud seeding was done in Texas, on July 2, 2025.
The South Texas Weather Modification Association seeded a storm in Carnes County, about 130 miles southeast of Kerr County.
The clouds targeted were small and isolated. They dissipated by 4 p.m.
It is not possible that days later the dispersed clouds could have caused the flooding in Kerr County.
What caused the Texas flooding?
Texas floods: Latest in Kerr County
It’s now been two weeks since the devastating floods hit Central Texas, killing more than 130 people, and recovery efforts are far from over
So what did cause the flooding in Texas?
Remnants of Tropical Storm Barry lingered over Central Texas and the Hill Country for days.
Due to the rocky, clay-rich soils and slowing terrain, runoff funnels down, causing water to flow rapidly and an increase in flooding.
It is why Kerr County is part of something called Flash Flood Alley.
The Source: Information in this article comes from FOX 7 meteorologist Adaleigh Rowe and the South Texas Weather Modification Association.
Great Job Adaleigh.Rowe@fox.com (Adaleigh Rowe) & the Team @ Latest News | FOX 7 Source link for sharing this story.
