A view of the road after heavy rainfall as opposed climate circumstances have an effect on every day life in Dubai.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Photos
The Nationwide Middle of Meteorology (NCM), a authorities taskforce liable for cloud seeding missions within the United Arab Emirates, denied experiences that it carried out the climate modification method within the runup to heavy storms throughout the nation, due to this fact exacerbating flooding in locations like Dubai.
The group instructed CNBC that it didn’t dispatch pilots for seeding operations earlier than or in the course of the storm that struck the UAE on Tuesday.
Omar AlYazeedi, deputy director basic of the NCM, stated that the establishment “didn’t conduct any seeding operations throughout this occasion.”
He added, “One of many fundamental rules of cloud seeding is that it’s a must to goal clouds in its early stage earlier than it rains, when you’ve got a extreme thunderstorm scenario then it’s too late to conduct any seeding operation.”
On Tuesday, the nation skilled its heaviest downpour so far, with over 250 millimeters of rainfall within the Emirate of Al Ain, in response to NCM figures, and recording greater than 100 mm in locations like Dubai. The annual rainfall within the UAE averages between 140 to 200 mm.
The NCM denial follows an earlier Bloomberg report, through which Ahmed Habib, a specialist meteorologist, had stated that the Tuesday rains had stemmed partly from cloud seeding. Habib later instructed CNBC that six pilots had flown missions as a part of common protocol, however had not seeded any clouds. CNBC was not in a position to independently confirm the experiences.
Cloud seeding, a course of used to boost rainfall, has been an integral a part of the UAE’s mission to unravel water shortages. Seeding missions have been launched within the Nineties, and over 1,000 hours of cloud seeding at the moment are carried out yearly.
The NCM stated it had tracked the incoming heavy rainfall however didn’t goal any clouds throughout that interval, attributing the storm to pure rainfall.
The deputy director basic added: “We take the security of our individuals, pilots, and aircrafts very significantly. The NCM doesn’t conduct cloud seeding operations throughout excessive climate occasions.”
The Gulf state has skilled an increase in rainfall in the previous couple of years, and precipitation is predicted to extend by 15-30% within the coming years, in response to a report from the science journal Nature.
Historically characterised by its desert local weather and scarce rainfall, the UAE has skilled shifts in climate patterns time beyond regulation as a consequence of local weather change.
The UAE authorities’s Nationwide Emergency Disaster and Catastrophe Administration Authority issued warnings on social media platform X forward of the unstable climate circumstances and urged residents to remain residence and cling to security tips.
The UAE’s infrastructure and buildings are designed to endure climate patterns typical to the area, comparable to minimal rainfall. The Emirates drainage methods struggled to manage in the course of the unprecedented downpours, leading to flooded roads and airports and halting the nation’s most important operations.
Autos are stranded on a flooded road following heavy rains in Dubai early on April 17, 2024. Dubai, the Center East’s monetary heart, has been paralyzed by the torrential rain that induced floods throughout the UAE and Bahrain and left 18 lifeless in Oman on April 14 and 15.
Giuseppe Cacace | Afp | Getty Photos
