'Cloud seeding' may be increasingly crucial as Arizona heats up

Arizona is facing increasingly blistering summers. Both Tucson and Phoenix reached nearly record-breaking heat this month, and the forecast indicates more triple-digit heats. As citizens look for ways to stay cool, researchers are considering cloud seeding to beat the heat. Cloud seeding involves dispersing particles like silver iodide in the air to increase the chances of precipitation. 

Chemical and environmental engineering professor Armin Sorooshian spoke on Arizona’s Family about the process. 

"Short-term studies are typically done, but they have proven the chain of events that are required for cloud seeding," Sorooshian said. "So we do know it can work, because you have seeding agents that can make ice crystals, for instance, that grow big enough that they fall down to the surface. So we do know it can work, but it can be hard to tell it apart from natural variations in the atmosphere."

Sorooshian emphasized that cloud seeding is not "creating new clouds." A cloud must already be present. The process instead garners more precipitation for existing clouds. Cloud seeding may be able to increase the rain from clouds by roughly 10%.