Did cloud seeding cause the Dubai flooding?
By Mark Poynting & Marco Silva
Dubai has been hit by record floods over the past 24 hours, sparking misleading speculation about cloud seeding.
So how unusual was the rainfall and what were the reasons behind the extreme downpours?
Dubai is situated on the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is usually very dry. But while it receives less than 100mm (3.9in) a year of rainfall on average, it does experience occasional extreme downpours.
In the city of Al-Ain – just over 100km (62 miles) from Dubai – about 256mm (10in) of rain was recorded in just 24 hours.
A “cut off” low pressure weather system, which drew in warm, moist air and blocked other weather systems from coming through was the main cause.
“This part of the world is characterised by long periods without rain and then irregular, heavy rainfall, but even so, this was a very rare rainfall event,” explains Prof Maarten Ambaum, a meteorologist at the University of Reading who has studied rainfall patterns in the Gulf region.
