Is Climate Manipulation to Blame for Dubai’s Historic Flooding?

Dubai received over a year’s worth of rain in 12 hours on Tuesday, sparking conflicting media reports that cloud seeding may be partially to blame for the ensuing floods.

For Context: Per Wikipedia, cloud seeding is “a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation.” Dubai received roughly 4 inches of rain on Tuesday, and various sources report the city’s yearly rainfall to be between 3 and 4 inches on average.

Recent Seeding: Bloomberg (Lean Left bias) claimed cloud seeding worsened the flooding, and reported on the United Arab Emirates’ cloud seeding operations that took place days before the rain. “The Gulf state’s National Center of Meteorology dispatched seeding planes from Al Ain airport on Monday and Tuesday to take advantage of convective cloud formations, according to Ahmed Habib, a specialist meteorologist,” the outlet reported. The UAE has since denied this report, according to CNBC (Center bias).

‘A Stretch’: Amit Katwala of Wired (Center bias) referenced Bloomberg’s report and claimed “the truth is more complicated,” saying that while the UAE does run 300 cloud seeding operations a year, it’s “a stretch” to say seeding was responsible for the floods. Katwala cited seeding’s inability to affect rainfall that greatly, and the geography of where seeding operations take place as reasons why Dubai’s rainfall was likely not affected by operations.

How The Media Covered It: Media across the spectrum that covered the story referred to Bloomberg’s original report, which appears to have sparked most coverage.