Record Rainfall in Dubai? Blame Climate Change, Not Cloud Seeding
Global warming is causing heavier downpours around the world.
Drivers attempt to move their vehicles along a flooded highway after a rainstorm in Dubai.
Photographer: Christopher Pike/BloombergThe sights coming out of the United Arab Emirates this week range from surreal to apocalyptic: Rolls Royces and Aston Martins floating in flood water, a plane taxiing across a runway-cum-lake, furniture flying off the balcony of a high-rise apartment. But blaming weather modification for Tuesday’s downpours, which caused flash flooding and killed at least 18 people in neighboring Oman, is almost certainly wrong.
Reports suggest that almost six inches (15.2cm) of rain fell on Dubai in 24 hours, about a year and a half’s worth of average annual precipitation. A 1-in-100-year rainfall event for the region – meaning weather with a 1% chance of happening every year – would produce about 2.4 inches in a day. So what happened this week was more than double that intensity.