Old news report about cloud seeding is unrelated to recent flooding in Australia
Old news report about cloud seeding is unrelated to recent flooding in Australia.
(Reuters) Social media users are sharing a news clip from 2016 about cloud seeding the day before a severe flood in Southern Tasmania. The clip is unrelated to recent floods in Australia, however, and dates back to 2016.
Examples can be seen (here) and (here).
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Three intense weather systems in six weeks have pounded eastern Australia, with several parts of northern New South Wales and southeast Queensland clocking record rains and Sydney registering its wettest March on record.
The clip in the post was posted on Facebook by 7NEWS Melbourne on June 10, 2016 with the caption: “Residents in southern Tasmania want to know why cloud seeding was conducted the day before severe flooding hit the region.”
A 2018 article by ABC News reported that experts did not find a link between the seeding and flooding described in the 2016 news clip.
Hydro Tasmania conducted an independent analysis and found that: “Analysis of data from a cloud seeding flight undertaken on 5 June 2016 shows the operation had no measurable impact on rainfall on that day."
Reuters previously debunked similar claims that climate change is a cover-up for humans intentionally controlling the weather.
Cloud seeding helps with the formation of ice crystals and uses a small amount of a harmless and naturally occurring compound called silver iodide (Agl), which is released from an aircraft when a storm passes through specific seeding project areas.
A spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) added: “The most common - really the only weather modification technique in widespread use - is cloud-seeding in an effort to amplify precipitation. The technology is fairly rudimentary, and the results are very localized.”
In January 2020, Indonesia’s air force seeded clouds with salt to try to stop rainfall reaching the slowing sinking capital after deadly flash floods and landslides triggered by some of the heaviest rain ever recorded.
Cloud seeding has been used by countries around the world including Malaysia, China, Russia and more.
VERDICT
Missing context. The clip shows a 2016 flooding incident in Tasmania. Experts at the time found cloud seeding was not to blame for the floods.
