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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Abbianca Makoni

United Arab Emirates is making its own fake rain to beat 44C heat

The United Arab Emirates is making its own fake rain using drones that fly into clouds to beat the sweltering 44C heat.

The enhanced rain is reportedly created using drone technology that produces electrical charges within clouds in order for them to clump together and create water.

It’s part of an ongoing effort to curb the country’s lack of rainfall. On average precipitation in the UAE measures just 100mm per year.

On Sunday UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology released video footage of heavy downpours, which showed the technology had proved a success.

The centre said the precipitation was enhanced by a technique known as cloud seeding.

Scientists at the University of Reading are leading the project and Professor Maarten Ambaum told the BBC in March that “the water table is sinking drastically in [the] UAE and the purpose of this is to try to help with rainfall.

“When the drops merge and are big enough, they will fall as rain,” he added.

The success of the technology comes years after the UAE invested $15 million in nine different rain-making projects in 2017.

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