Latest news with #Doricko
Time of India
11-07-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Did cloud seeding cause the deadly Texas floods? Report sparks outrage after disaster that killed over 100
Recent Texas floods led to conspiracy theories. These theories wrongly blamed cloud seeding company Rainmaker. Augustus Doricko, Rainmaker's founder, faced online anger. Influencers suggested cloud seeding caused the disaster. Scientists deny cloud seeding can cause such heavy rain. Rainmaker had a small operation far from the flooded area. The EPA acknowledges public concerns about geoengineering. Regulation and transparency are essential. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Why are people blaming Rainmaker? Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads What exactly is cloud seeding? What do scientists say about the risks? What sparked the conspiracy theories? What happened during Rainmaker's Texas mission? Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads How has Rainmaker responded to the backlash? What is the government saying about cloud seeding and geoengineering? FAQs Over 100 people have died in a terrible flood in Texas, and conspiracy theories are once again in the news. Some people are blaming a cloud-seeding company for the heavy rain this time, but scientists strongly disagree. As people get more and more angry online, the facts about changing the weather are getting lost. Rainmaker , a cloud-seeding startup, is getting a lot of hate because conspiracy theories wrongly connected its work to the deadly floods in Texas. The argument has brought up old arguments about geoengineering and changing the Augustus Doricko established a cloud-seeding start-up in 2023, he was aware that he would have to deal with misconceptions and conspiracy theories about the technology. However, he was unprepared for the overwhelming amount of online rage he has encountered following the devastating floods in Texas that have left over 100 people dead and almost twice as many missing, as per a report by The Washington a phone interview on Wednesday, Doricko stated, "It has been constant chaos." Social media posts implying that the floods in Kerr County were a man-made calamity have focused on Doricko and his business, prominent individuals, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), former Trump adviser Michael Flynn, and other influential people, have openly suggested that cloud-seeding operations like Rainmaker's may have caused or at least contributed to the historic flood, as per a report by The Washington technique known as "cloud seeding," in which aircraft disperse dust particles through clouds to cause rain and snow, is still in its infancy. Its effects are too restricted and localized to result in anything approaching the 15 inches of rain that flooded large areas of South Central Texas over the Fourth of July to atmospheric scientists, that is not feasible. Bob Rauber, an emeritus professor of atmospheric science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has researched the technology, said, "The amount of energy involved in making storms like that is astronomical compared to anything you can do with cloud seeding." "We're talking about a very small increase on a natural process at best."Conspiracy theorists continue to use cloud seeding as a flaming explanation for natural disasters despite this. The hunt for a scapegoat has brought attention to a contentious technology that, despite scant proof of its efficacy and larger social and environmental worries about changing the weather, has attracted interest from drought-stricken Western states and dozens of nations seeking to replenish water Runge, Texas, more than 100 miles southeast of Kerr County, a single-engine aircraft operated by the start-up Rainmaker, based in El Segundo, California, flew on a cloud-seeding mission on the afternoon of July to Doricko, the mission was followed by a light drizzle that dumped less than half a centimeter of rain on the arid farms below. It released roughly 70 grams of silver iodide into a pair of clouds over the course of about 20 run was a component of a deal Rainmaker signed this spring to replenish water reservoirs and increase rainfall across cropland with the South Texas Weather Modification Association, a nonprofit organization supported by regional water management claimed that his company's meteorologists quickly canceled their operations in the region after spotting an impending storm front. Parts of Kerr County received up to 15 inches of rain by the morning of July 4 from Tropical Storm Barry's theorists on the internet seized upon the coincidence and demanded "accountability" as documents proving Rainmaker's registration to carry out weather modification projects in Texas were circulated by verified patiently answering more serious questions and participating in live audio events on X to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of cloud seeding, Doricko attempted to brush off the on X with images of Rainmaker's office's exterior and its address were pushed back by natural disasters have given rise to theories about cloud seeding, with some people thinking that these events could be "chemtrails" of evil schemes to change the weather or contaminate the response, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it agrees with the concerns expressed by many Americans regarding the federal government stopped experimenting with cloud seeding in the 1980s, some investors have supported businesses like Rainmaker, which has 58 employees and raised $31 million in venture capital. Building trust will require careful regulation, oversight, and transparency; it is also annoying when online influencers try to place blame for natural According to experts, cloud seeding alone cannot produce enough rainfall to cause such widespread but certain states regulate or prohibit it. Others, particularly in the drought-prone West, actively support cloud-seeding initiatives.
AFP
10-07-2025
- Climate
- AFP
Texas cloud seeding operation triggers conspiratorial outrage after deadly floods
"BREAKING: Federal agencies paid a private cloud seeding company to spray Texas skies -- just 2 days before deadly floods killed 60+. No public comment. No oversight. No accountability. Call it weather modification. Call it a conspiracy. But it's happening," says a July 6, 2025 post on X. Image A screenshot of an X post taken on July 10, 2025 A series of similar claims about the involvement of weather manipulation circulated after floods on the Fourth of July holiday ravaged the Texas Hill Country region of the southern US border state, claiming more than 120 lives, including many children. The claims included commentary from Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene -- who has pushed such a narrative after natural disasters -- and reverberated all the way to national television network, Fox News (archived here). Cloud seeding, a technique that introduces tiny particles into the sky to induce rain over small geographical areas, has gained popularity worldwide as a way to combat drought and increase local water supplies (archived here). As of 2022, seven cloud seeding projects covered about 31 million acres, equivalent to one-sixth of the land area of the state, according to Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (archived here). Many posts placed the blame for the intensity of the floods on one particular cloud-seeding company operating in the region -- Rainmaker Technology Corp. But while it has become a recurring topic of misinformation, scientists say it cannot create weather events the size of the Texas floods. "Cloud seeding can't trigger floods of this size," University of Colorado Boulder professor Emily Yeh told AFP July 10 (archived here). General estimates of rain increases through cloud seeding are in the range of , Yeh explained. All programs have strict suspension requirements, she said, and no operational program would try to seed a large storm. Regulated activities The outrage over cloud seeding took off in part because Augustus Doricko, founder of California-based Rainmaker Technology Corp, said to several media outlets and on X that his company conducted a cloud-seeding operation in the region on July 2 (archived here). "We've probably received in excess of 100 explicit death threats on either email or X, [with] probably about one order of magnitude more calls for my incarceration," Doricko reportedly told Wired (archived here). But the operation did not trigger the floods, Doricko and independent experts say. "Unequivocally, our cloud seeding operations on July 2 did not impact the flooding that occurred later," Doricko said in a July 9 interview on The Will Cain show (archived here). "We have what are called suspension criteria where if there are National Weather Service flash flood warnings or severe storm warnings, then we cannot operate in those areas per the restrictions and regulations we have," Doricko said. "Our meteorologist actually proactively suspended operations a day before the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning." AFP reached out to Doricko for further comment, but no response was forthcoming. Marya Al Homoud, a scientific researcher on cloud seeding at the Almobdioon Center for Studies and Research in Saudi Arabia, confirmed that "cloud seeding cannot be applied during extreme weather conditions (such as rainstorms leading to floods), as this technology is applied under specific and safe conditions" (archived here). Homoud, who has studied the efficiency of cloud seeding over Tom Green County in Texas, said no scientific evidence exists linking the method to floods (archived here). "Floods have several causes, including climate, atmospheric and weather conditions, as well as environmental conditions," she said. Geographic and atmospheric conditions A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, loading the dice for heavier downpours (archived here). to the extreme terrain and atmospheric conditions, the floods may have been more deadly because they happened at night and around a holiday. Meteorologist Alan Gerard, and former employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told AFP July 9 that the "catastrophic flash flood was really an absolute worst case scenario from a meteorological perspective and a societal perspective" (archived here). "The Texas Hill Country is informally known as 'flash flood alley' because the hilly terrain and soil type helps create flash floods in the river channels in the region," he said. He added: "Friday's flood happened in the middle of the night when people are least likely to receive and act on warnings, and occurred along a river that has numerous campgrounds and resorts, on the Fourth of July when many of these facilities were full." Image A search and rescue team looks for people along the Guadalupe River near a damaged building at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, on July 7, 2025, following severe flash flooding (AFP / RONALDO SCHEMIDT) A preliminary analysis by ClimaMeter, a non-profit platform that offers near-real-time insights into the dynamics of extreme events and their relations to climate change, found that the meteorological conditions preceding the Texas floods, which delivered more than twice the monthly average rainfall in a single day, also could not be explained by natural variability alone (archived here). The report, based on past similar disasters in the area, characterized the Texas floods as a "very exceptional weather event" that "may be due to human-driven climate change, with a contribution from natural variability." Texas authorities have faced mounting scrutiny over the response to the flooding, as details surfaced about reported delays of early alerts that could have saved lives. he National Weather Service, like other federal agencies, has experienced deep staffing and budget cuts under US President Donald Trump's administration, but experts say its forecasters rose to the challenge despite the constraints. AFP has debunked other claims about the Texas floods and previously reported on conspiracy theories about cloud seeding.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
He seeded clouds over Texas. Then came the conspiracy theories.
Augustus Doricko knew when he founded a cloud-seeding start-up in 2023 that he'd have to contend with misunderstandings and conspiracy theories surrounding the technology. Still, he wasn't quite prepared for the sheer volume of online fury he has faced in the wake of the catastrophic Texas floods that have killed more than 100 people and nearly twice that many missing. 'It has been nonstop pandemonium,' Doricko said in a phone interview Wednesday. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. Doricko and his company, Rainmaker, have become a focal point of posts spiraling across social media that suggest the floods in Kerr County were a human-made disaster. An array of influencers, media personalities, elected officials and other prominent figures - including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and former Trump adviser Michael Flynn - have publicly raised the possibility that cloud-seeding operations like Rainmaker's might have caused or at least exacerbated the historic deluge. That's impossible, atmospheric scientists say. Cloud seeding, in which planes scatter dust particles through clouds to trigger rain and snow, remains a fledgling technology, the effects of which are too limited and localized to produce anything remotely like the 15 inches of rain that drowned swaths of South Central Texas over the Fourth of July weekend. 'The amount of energy involved in making storms like that is astronomical compared to anything you can do with cloud seeding,' said Bob Rauber, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign atmospheric science emeritus professor who has studied the technology. 'We're talking about a very small increase on a natural process at best.' That hasn't stopped conspiracy theorists from latching onto cloud seeding as an incendiary explanation for natural disasters. The search for a scapegoat has turned a spotlight on a controversial technology that has drawn interest from drought-stricken Western states and dozens of countries looking to replenish water reservoirs, despite limited evidence that it works and broader social and environmental concerns about altering the weather. And it underscores how conspiracy theories can flourish in the aftermath of natural disasters as people seek information - and the clout that can come from providing sensational answers. This much is true: On the afternoon of July 2, a single-engine plane operated by the El Segundo, California-based start-up Rainmaker flew on a cloud-seeding job over Runge, Texas, more than 100 miles southeast of Kerr County. Over the course of about 20 minutes, it released about 70 grams of silver iodide into a pair of clouds; the mission was followed by a modest drizzle that dropped less than half a centimeter of rain over the parched farms below, Doricko said. The run was part of a contract that Rainmaker had inked this spring with the South Texas Weather Modification Association, a nonprofit funded by local water management districts to refill water reservoirs and boost rainfall over cropland. Soon after, Doricko said, his company's meteorologists saw a storm front approaching and called off their operations in the area. By the morning of July 4, the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry had dumped up to 15 inches of rain over parts of Kerr County. But online sleuths steeped in conspiracy theories seized upon the coincidence. On July 5, as the toll of dead and missing mounted, verified accounts on social media platform X demanded 'accountability' as they circulated documents showing Rainmaker's registration to perform weather modification projects in Texas. 'I'd love to see the response,' Flynn responded in a post that was viewed 1 million times. Greene, who drew widespread rebukes last year when she implied that Hurricane Helene may have been engineered, posted Saturday on X that she was introducing a bill that would make attempts to alter the weather 'a felony offense.' Her post drew 18 million views. TikTok influencers posted clips from a recent interview on a podcast hosted by former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan, with whom Doricko described his company's work and discussed whom would be held responsible if it went awry. Some videos juxtaposed Doricko's words with footage of the devastation in Texas or spliced them with an ominous cinematic score. Doricko felt an air of inevitability as his mentions in recent days piled up with questions, accusations and threats. 'I always anticipated that a moment like this would happen,' he said in an interview. 'Basically every time there's been severe weather somewhere in the world, people have blamed weather modification.' Similar rumors emerged online after nearly two years' worth of rain deluged Dubai last year. He tried to shrug off the threats while patiently fielding more earnest questions, joining live audio events on X to explain cloud seeding's capabilities and limitations. But he pushed back on posts on X that showed pictures of the outside of Rainmaker's office and posted its address. Doricko said Wednesday that X ultimately removed the posts and that he and his employees have not suffered any direct harm. While there's no evidence that cloud seeding played any role in the Texas floods or other recent natural disasters, such hypotheses can resonate with people seeking answers in a 'chaotic' information landscape, said Holly Buck, an associate professor of environment and sustainability at the University at Buffalo. The cloud-seeding theories tap into online subcultures that have grown up around the notion that what appear to be contrails - white streaks of condensation left by airplanes against the backdrop of blue skies - may be 'chemtrails' of nefarious projects to alter the weather or poison the populace. Those communities flourished alongside conspiracies about bioweapons and vaccines during the covid-19 pandemic, Buck said, as public trust in the mainstream media and scientific expertise diminished. Then there's the fact that some governments really are trying to modify the weather. At least 39 countries have cloud-seeding programs, according to a December report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. China has invested at least $2 billion since 2014. Saudi Arabia spent more than $250 million on cloud seeding in 2022 alone, according to the report, and the United Arab Emirates and India have invested millions of dollars more in recent years. While 10 U.S. states have proposed or passed laws banning cloud seeding, nine in the West - amid the worst droughts some areas have seen in 1,200 years - spend millions of dollars a year to squeeze rain or snow out of clouds. Utah leads the pack, with a $5 million annual cloud-seeding budget. Research on cloud seeding is limited, according to the GAO report. But a 2017 research project in Idaho used high-tech radar to track silver iodide particles as they entered clouds, caused ice crystals to form and created snowfall, demonstrating that winter cloud seeding can create a small but noticeable increase in precipitation - something like a fraction of a millimeter of extra snow in a single event. Over the course of an entire winter, small snow boosts can add billions of extra gallons of water to dwindling water reservoirs, according to Rauber, who was involved in the Idaho project. Modern cloud seeding uses techniques the federal government first tried in the 1940s to boost rainfall and disrupt severe storms. Government scientists spent millions of dollars over decades tinkering with clouds. In the 1960s, the Defense Department secretly tried to induce rainfall to wash out North Vietnamese supply routes - a campaign revealed by the New York Times in 1971 and acknowledged by the U.S. government three years later. In another infamous instance, Air Force pilots sprinkled dry ice into a hurricane drifting over the Atlantic Ocean in 1947 to see if they could disrupt its formation; instead, the hurricane abruptly turned toward land, strengthened and caused one death and $2 million in damage, prompting public outcry. The deadly shift was a coincidence, Rauber said, but it taught scientists they should avoid any appearance of causing a disaster. 'Companies that do this type of stuff have to be very careful. When it looks like there's going to be a large storm, you just don't do it. You stay away from it,' Rauber said. The federal government 'pretty much' ended its cloud-seeding experiments in the 1980s, he said. But some investors have backed companies like Rainmaker, which has raised $31 million in venture capital and employs 58 people, Doricko said. Even amid this week's controversy, he said, he has gotten inquiries from potential clients who are just learning about cloud seeding. Doricko said he understands why people are concerned about cloud seeding and believes careful regulation, oversight and transparency will be needed to build trust. His frustration is with the online influencers trying to assign blame for a natural disaster. 'If we lived in a world where you could hold someone to account, then theoretically you could stop them,' he said. 'It's a much more tragic world, and hard-to-deal-with world, if these things just happen because of nature and we have to deal with these tragedies.' Related Content How conservatives beat back a Republican sell-off of public lands Gabbard's team has sought spy agency data to enforce Trump's agenda Arthur Ashe's knack for reinvention led him to history at Wimbledon
Newsweek
09-07-2025
- Climate
- Newsweek
Rainmaker CEO Speaks Out About Cloud Seeding in Texas Before Floods
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The CEO of a cloud-seeding company has spoken out about the organization's work after a series of deadly flash floods hit Texas. Rainmaker CEO Augustus Doricko said his company, which works with farmers in Texas during times of drought, "unequivocally had nothing to do with the flooding." Newsweek contacted Doricko for further comment via email. The Context Flash floods swept across central Texas on Friday. More than 80 people have died, and many remain missing, according to the Associated Press. Flooding struck as the Guadalupe River surged by more than 20 to 26 feet within 90 minutes, which caused widespread devastation and forced mass evacuations. The National Weather Service has activated flood warnings across Texas, and many of these are expected to last until at least Monday morning. Flooding is the second-deadliest weather hazard in the U.S. after extreme heat, according to NWS data. What To Know Cloud-seeding operations are widespread in Texas and cover about one-sixth of the state, spanning 31 million acres across its northwestern, western and southern regions as of 2022, according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Doricko said the technology was completely unrelated to the flash floods in Texas, which he said were prompted by parts of a tropical storm blowing into the state. Floodwater left debris, including vehicles and equipment, scattered in Louise Hays Park in Kerrville, Texas, on July 5. Floodwater left debris, including vehicles and equipment, scattered in Louise Hays Park in Kerrville, Texas, on July 5. Getty Images Over the past week, Doricko has appeared on several news broadcasts and podcasts to discuss the technology and explain why it isn't linked to the floods. "We unequivocally had nothing to do with the flooding that was caused by the remnants of the tropical storm that blew in," he told Steve Bannon on the War Room podcast. He continued: "Our biggest cloud-seeding missions to date have only produced 10 million gallons of precipitation approximately, and that tropical storm dumped about 4 trillion over the course of two days. "The order magnitude difference between what cloud-seeding is even capable and what happened is incomparable." What Is Cloud Seeding? Cloud seeding is an eco-friendly method used to increase precipitation, such as rain or snow, from clouds. The technology involves dispersing tiny particles, or "seeds," into the clouds to stimulate the formation of extra water droplets or ice crystals, which speeds up precipitation and enhances the cloud's effectiveness. Cloud seeding is also employed to minimize hail damage and dissipate fog. Who Is Augustus Doricko? Doricko is the CEO of Rainmaker, a cloud-seeding company operating in several states. He has spoken out against theories that the technology his company uses has contributed to floods and other natural disasters. What Is Rainmaker? Rainmaker is a cloud-seeding company based in El Segundo, California, according to its website. Farmers in several states employ Rainmaker to help them avoid the effects of drought on crops and farmland. The company's website said, " Rainmaker provides water for farms, watersheds, and ecosystems, fortifying growth and stewarding the natural world." It uses a weather radar and a larger atmospheric sensing system, along with a network of weather-resistant drones, in its seeding work with the goal of recreating weather activity that helps prevent drought and preserve ecosystems in the U.S. Doricko told Bannon that farmers "cloud seed either to try to fill up aquifers preemptively or when there is a drought. They not only use it for aquifer recharge and farming in Texas but municipalities throughout Utah and Idaho also use it. This technology was invented in the United States in the 1940s." According to the CEO, Rainmaker is under strict regulations from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation to suspend all activity if flooding begins. "If ever there's a risk of flooding—if reservoir spillage is a risk—then you have to stop operating, and a day before there was any flash flood warning, our meteorologists proactively suspended operations before even that regulatory threshold from the state of Texas," he said. What Happens Next Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, has said she will introduce a bill to address "weather modification." She wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the bill would prohibit "the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity."
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Rainmaker CEO To Speak Publicly Amid Cloud Seeding Scrutiny Over Texas Floods
As Texans reel from one of the deadliest natural disasters in state history, the CEO of a weather modification company at the center of growing public suspicion is preparing to face questions in a live forum. Augustus Doricko, CEO of Rainmaker Technology Corporation, will appear in a live X Space hosted by conservative commentator @Amuse to respond to scrutiny surrounding a cloud seeding mission his company conducted two days before catastrophic floods swept through the Texas Hill Country on July 4. Rainmaker confirmed it flew a 20-minute cloud seeding mission on July 2 over Karnes County, located southeast of the flood zone. The operation targeted two clouds that reportedly dissipated later that afternoon. No further flights were conducted before the floods began. Doricko said Rainmaker suspended all operations the same day, citing compliance with Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) safety criteria. Still, the timing has fueled rampant speculation online. Critics want to know: could the July 2 flight — however brief or distant — have influenced the deadly storm system that followed? Veteran Houston meteorologist Travis Herzog weighed in this week, calling the theory scientifically unfounded. 'Cloud seeding cannot create a storm of this magnitude or size. In fact, cloud seeding cannot even create a single cloud,' Herzog said. 'All it can do is take an existing cloud and enhance the rainfall by up to 20% — and even that is on the high end.' He compared the theory to blowing out a candle and assuming one could extinguish a wildfire. 'It is a matter of scale,' he said. Herzog, who grew up near the Texas Hill Country and studied meteorology at Texas A&M, emphasized that catastrophic flash floods are not new to the region, referencing similar disasters in 1987, 2002, and 2015. He attributed the July 4 event to a stalled mesoscale convective vortex fueled by remnant tropical moisture, not cloud seeding. 'We want to make sense of this tragedy,' Herzog wrote. 'And we never want to see it happen again.' The flood dumped more than 18 inches of rain in some areas, triggering a surge on the Guadalupe River that peaked at 34.29 feet, inundating homes, camps, and low-water crossings. Rainmaker has released flight logs and meteorological analysis showing no operations after July 2. The company says it welcomes scrutiny and followed all state guidelines, noting it stood down before the National Weather Service issued any watches or warnings. Now, Doricko says he's ready to address critics directly.
