Ominous clouds covered the skies of Abu Dhabi as the city saw consecutive days of rainfall starting from April 21. Pedestrians raised their eyebrows and umbrellas at the unusually long spell of rain.

“It only rained a handful of times last year, mostly in November and December as summer was finally ending, and then again in March and April when winter was winding down,” said sophomore Olivia Bergen. “Similar to this year, though it never lasted more than a day or so, and the rain itself more than maybe half an hour. A week of overcast skies and rainshowers is really strange.”

According to freshman Emaan Ahmad, who has lived in Abu Dhabi her whole life, the recent bout of rain is unseasonal.

“Abu Dhabi always has its weird ‘rain week’ during the transition from summer to winter,” she said. “But this year it came during the winter to summer transition.”

The untimeliness of the rain sparked suspicions that the recent showers are artificial, generated by rain-creating technologies.

According to news reports, UAE weather experts attribute the rainfall to cloud seeding efforts directed by the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology. The “Cloud Seeding Project” web page, hosted by the NCMS, explains that they use hygroscopic seeding, a form of cloud seeding that stimulates rain by using flares to sprinkle silver iodide on the base of the cloud. The salts enlarge as they come in contact with water, eventually falling as rain. A television promotion uploaded on Youtube by NCMS on April 30, 2013, reveals the airplanes used to disseminate the salts on the cloud as well as the Center’s hopes to revitalize their dry nation.

Ionizers are another possible suspect. News sources claim that the $11 million project included using ionizers to create rainstorms. These ionizers, which resemble gigantic metal lampshades, generate charged particles in the air. The negatively charged ions collect dust as they rise with the warm air. The charged dust attracts moisture and eventually condenses into clouds that produce rain. Built in Abu Dhabi, these ionizers are reported to have generated over 50 rainstorms in Al Ain in July and August of 2010.

Technologies to modify weather raises an exciting prospect of increasing fresh water reserves in the UAE and expanding agriculture in the desert region of Abu Dhabi, where the temperature often rises to above 40ºC (104ºF) during the summer months. Several scientists, however, feel skeptical about such attempts to induce artificial rainfall. Assistant Professor of Mathematics at New York University Center for Atmosphere Ocean Science Edwin Gerber expressed doubt about the rumored rain-creating technology.

“My natural skepticism is a concern about the scale of the problem,” said Gerber. “The amount of energy associated with the atmospheric winds and latent energy associated with evaporation and condensation are immense. For example, a typical hurricane has far more energy than any nuclear bomb. So human efforts to modify the climate are really the tail trying to wag the dog.”

Even if the technology is effective, Gerber pointed out, the ethical aspects of generating rain must also be brought to light.

“Another concern is that if one were able to cause rain in one area, you would be effectively taking rain away from another region,” Gerber said. “Supposing that this technology does work, there will be ethical issues to address. Is it fair for one country to try to steal rain from another?”

Despite the rampant rumors of rain-creation, Gerber reminded people that it is too early to make any judgements.

“There is a great deal of natural variability in weather, so it would be premature to make a claim based on just a few rain events,” Gerber said.