When the U.S. Government Tried to Make It Rain by Exploding Dynamite in the Sky
Inspired by weather patterns during the Civil War, the rainmakers of the 1890s headed to west Texas to test their theory
By Katie Nodjimbadem
September 4, 2018
The skies around Midland, Texas, lit up and thundered with the brilliance and cacophony of military-grade explosives. But it was far from a wartime scene, as on August 17, 1891, a group of scientists were setting off explosives in the first government-funded rain-making experiments.
Robert G. Dyrenforth had traveled by train from Washington, D.C. to a Texas cattle ranch in Texas with a group of other “rainmaking†enthusiasts. They arrived armed with dynamite, kites and balloons, the key ingredients for their rain-making recipe. Following the tenets of the concussion theory of weather modification, which suggested that clouds could be compelled to produce rain as a result of agitation from loud noise, the rainmakers prepared their explosives for detonation.
Read more:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-us-government-tried-make-rain-exploding-dynamite-sky-180970193/#tklPtefdH0mLc2I3.99
