Did Cloud Seeding Cause the Kerr County, Texas Flooding?

If you’ve been on social media lately or sitting around the table, you may have heard “They’re messing with the weather again.” While the government has long been accused of controlling the weather by wild speculation and conspiracy theorists, the idea that cloud seeding, and the potential role it played in the recent Texas flooding, has gained traction.

Months worth of rain fell across portions of the Texas Hill Country in a matter of a few hours leading into the Fourth of July weekend. As a result, a large portion of the area was flooded. The Guadalupe River swelled twenty-something feet in less than an hour. As the days have gone by, rescue attempts have become recoveries, and the death toll continues to rise.

While locals initially started blaming the National Weather Service, after positively defending that all protocols were followed without fail, some Texans now believe cloud seeding is to blame.

What Is Cloud Seeding?

Cloud seeding is a very old technology based on anecdotal evidence. Thought of as snake oil, dry climates try to stir up rain by seeding the atmosphere.

The thought is, since there's moisture in the air, if you interject small particles into clouds, the moisture will condense on them, then rain forms and falls to earth.

Texas has a long-standing relationship with cloud seeding, even though the empirical evidence doesn't actually support that it works.

Some studies show it can improve rain yield by 5-15%, but even more studies show it does little to nothing aside from costing taxpayers money.

Why are some blaming the cloud seeding efforts?

Weather modification has been a highly debated topic in small groups for a very long time across the country. When some looked deeper into public flight-tracking information, it showed a short history of cloud-seeding planes flying in the area days prior to the event.

It's human nature to try to logically find a reason why tragedies happen, and this happens to be the easiest for people to make assumptions about. Given the gravity of what transpired, it may be a fair question.

Was it the cloud seeding?

Experts say probably not, and while I can appreciate bucking the system when the government says "We didn't do that," this is one official statement I'm inclined to believe.

Countless meteorologists have pointed out that the storm system that hovered over Kerr County was already packing tropical-level moisture thanks to a push of warm and moist air out of the Gulf. When it mixed with the unstable atmosphere Central Texas had that night, the heavy rain was inevitable.

It didn't need any help from the planes.

So why the suspicion?

Simply put, we don’t trust what we can’t see. When you’re watching your backyard turn into a river and other horrors unfold in the area, it’s natural to assume the most outlandish things to explain what's happening around you.

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Add in years of weird weather, dry spells, extreme floods, and new tech that actually does influence the weather, and folks are going to ask questions. Maybe they should.

Final Thoughts

Is cloud seeding real? Yes.
Is it being used in Texas? Also yes.
Did it cause the Kerr County flood? Almost certainly not.
Should people be allowed to ask questions about how we use weather technology? Absolutely.

Whether it's nature or human hands stirring the pot, people deserve to know who’s shaking up their skies.