Humans finally figured out how to make it rain

Cloud seeding, explained. We flew up to see it with our own eyes. Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don’t miss any videos: For decades, drought-stricken areas around the world have practiced “cloud seeding,” a process where chemical flares full of silver iodide are shot into clouds to encourage them to rain. But until recently, the science didn’t quite back this practice up. In large part, that’s because operational cloud seeding programs don’t have the luxury of conducting controlled tests — they have an obligation to produce as much rain as possible for the people living under the clouds they seed. But there’s been a new breakthrough. In 2017, a major cloud seeding experiment in the mountains of Idaho showed that cloud seeding works; shooting chemical flares into the sky does produce more precipitation. As the world faces an increasing number of heat waves and droughts, banking water is becoming more and more important. And while we don’t know exactly how life-changing cloud seeding will turn out to be, we do know it has the potential to be a tool in our arsenal in the long battle against worsening droughts. To understand how cloud seeding works and what it’s already doing in Texas, watch this video and take a trip up to the clouds to see it yourself. The Future Perfect team at Vox explores big problems and the big ideas that can tackle them. Read more here: This video was made possible by a grant from the BEMC Foundation. Sources and further reading: To get a deeper understanding of droughts in all their complexity, how they interact with the water cycle, and how climate change makes them worse, check out NRDC’s guide: To understand how tree-ring data and modern data are combined to get a better understanding of droughts over the last thousand years, check out this report: To keep track of the many, severe droughts across the US, you can use the US Drought Monitor: To read about Texas’s state climate summary for 2022, click on this link: #:~:text=Temperatures in Texas have risen,increases in extreme heat events. To explore how Texas temperatures have changed over time, check out NOAA’s data here: You can check out the results of the game-changing experiment that verified cloud seeding works here: #sec-3 To read more about the United Nation’s predictions for droughts and water shortages, check out their report here: Make sure you never miss behind-the-scenes content in the Vox Video newsletter, sign up here: is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what’s really driving the events in the headlines. Check out Support Vox’s reporting with a one-time or recurring contribution: Shop the Vox merch store: Watch our full video catalog: Follow Vox on Facebook: Follow Vox on Twitter: Follow Vox on TikTok: @voxdotcom