By Staff Reporter
Dubai: The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) has carried out 172 cloud-seeding flights since the start of 2025, as part of an ongoing program to boost rainfall in the UAE by between 10 and 25 percent, according to previously approved studies.
In a statement, the centre said current cloud-seeding techniques include specialized aircraft, advanced seeding agents based on natural salts and innovative nanomaterials, and charge emitters to deliver electrical charges into clouds.
The program is expanding to test the effectiveness of modern materials through electric charging, alongside the use of advanced numerical models to simulate the chemical, physical, and electrical interactions inside clouds with unprecedented accuracy.
Experiments have also explored creating vertical air currents with jet engines and using lasers to stimulate cloud formation.
New artificial intelligence applications are being developed to autonomously analyze cloud conditions in real time and determine optimal seeding moments, supported by satellite imagery and radar to forecast cloud behavior up to six hours ahead.
The NCM reported that the 2025 winter season, running from December 2024 to March 2025, saw cumulative rainfall of just 4.3 millimeters nationwide, a sharp drop from 48.7 millimeters recorded during the previous winter.
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The wettest 24-hour period this season measured 20.1 millimeters on Jebel Jais on Jan. 14, with the highest monthly total of 21.4 millimeters also recorded there in January.
By contrast, the 2024 season’s highest daily rainfall reached 167.1 millimeters at UAE University in Al Ain on Feb. 12, and the highest monthly total hit 227.9 millimeters in Umm Al Ghaf in February.
The centre attributed the disparity to shifts in regional pressure systems over the past two years, influenced indirectly by the La Niña climate phenomenon.
According to the NCM, La Niña contributes to the deepening of subtropical high-pressure systems over the Arabian Peninsula, suppressing the advance of low-pressure systems and reducing the likelihood of rain-bearing clouds.
This, combined with atmospheric circulation fluctuations, has limited rainfall frequency and volume in 2025.
While no records were set this season, the NCM stressed that enhancing rainfall play a key role in supporting the UAE’s water resources and reservoirs in line with the country’s sustainable water security goals.
