UAE government unit denies cloud seeding took place before Dubai floods

DUBAI — The National Center of Meteorology (NCM), a government taskforce responsible for cloud seeding missions in the United Arab Emirates, denied reports that it carried out the weather modification technique in the runup to heavy storms across the country, therefore exacerbating flooding in places like Dubai.

The organization told CNBC that it did not dispatch pilots for seeding operations before or during the storm that struck the UAE on Tuesday.

Omar AlYazeedi, deputy director general of the NCM, said that the institution "did not conduct any seeding operations during this event."

He added, "One of the basic principles of cloud seeding is that you have to target clouds in its early stage before it rains, if you have a severe thunderstorm situation then it is too late to conduct any seeding operation."

On Tuesday, the country experienced its heaviest downpour to date, with over 250 millimeters of rainfall in the Emirate of Al Ain, according to NCM figures, and recording more than 100 mm in places like Dubai. The annual rainfall in the UAE averages between 140 to 200 mm.

The NCM denial follows an earlier Bloomberg report, in which Ahmed Habib, a specialist meteorologist, had said that the Tuesday rains had stemmed partly from cloud seeding. Habib later told CNBC that six pilots had flown missions as part of regular protocol, but had not seeded any clouds. CNBC was not able to independently verify the reports.

Cloud seeding, a process used to enhance rainfall, has been an integral part of the UAE's mission to solve water shortages. Seeding missions were introduced in the 1990s, and over 1,000 hours of cloud seeding are now performed annually.

The NCM said it had tracked the incoming heavy rainfall but did not target any