Iran is currently experiencing its “driest autumn in 50 years”, the Irna news agency reported. According to local authorities, rainfall in the capital, Tehran, has not been this low in the past century, and half of Iran’s provinces have not seen a drop of rain in months. As a result, the volume of reservoirs supplying water to many provinces has reached its lowest point in history.
Faced with this situation, Iranian authorities launched a cloud seeding operation this weekend, state media reported. Concretely, particles, mainly silver iodide, are sprayed into these formations to induce deposition. Last year, Iran announced that it had developed its own technology in this area.
“Today, cloud-seeding flights were carried out in the Lake Urmia basin for the first time in the hydrological year,” which began in September, the official Irna news agency reported late Saturday. Iran’s largest lake in the northwest of the country has largely shrunk due to drought. According to IRNA, other operations will follow, in East and West Azerbaijan provinces.
The presidency warned of the seriousness of the situation
The largely arid country has suffered from years of chronic drought and heat waves that are expected to worsen with global warming.
According to the National Meteorological Agency, cited by Iran, this year’s rainfall was 89% below the long-term average. But on Saturday, the agency reported the arrival of rain in several areas in the west and northwest of the country.
Local media broadcast numerous videos showing heavy rain in Ahvaz and Shoushtar (southwest), as well as in Salmas and Urmia (northwest), and in Abdanan (west). In some places, heavy rainfall causes flooding. State media also showed the first snowfall in the Alborz mountains and the Tochal ski resort, located north of the capital.
Earlier this month, President Massoud Pezeshkian warned that without rain before winter, Tehran might have to be evacuated. The government later clarified that it wanted to remind the public of the seriousness of the situation, and not announce concrete projects.
Other countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates, also use cloud seeding to produce artificial rain.
