Originally published in July 1957
“The Council of the American Meteorological Society recently summed up the present evidence for the effectiveness of cloud-seeding. Its verdict: Not proven. Conditions favorable for artificial rainmaking, the statement points out, are very much the same as those which usually lead to natural rain. Says the Council: ‘Cloud-seeding acts only to trigger the release of precipitation from existing clouds.’ There appears to be no convincing evidence that ground-based silver iodide generators can increase rainfall in flat country. They seem effective only in cold weather and in regions where a mountain range forces the air to rise. The seeding of inactive cloud formations may act to dissipate them rather than cause them to produce rain.”
—Scientific American, July 1957
More gems from Scientific American’s first 175 years can be found on our shiny anniversary page.
