What Made Authorities Put Cloud Seeding On Hold Today? Explained

New Delhi: The cloud seeding planned for today in Delhi has been put on hold due to "insufficient moisture in the clouds”.

Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, “According to the IMD, there is still 10-15 per cent moisture. Yesterday, our trial was conducted at 10-15 per cent moisture, and now the next trial will be held when the moisture exceeds that level. As per IMD, the moisture is expected to increase further after 4 pm.”

Officials in the know of the plan said the next cloud seeding trial would be held immediately after moisture levels improved. “We are currently waiting for the moisture report,” an official said.

Earlier during the day, IIT Kanpur Director Manindra Agrawal had said that they were planning to do two more sorties, as they expected a slightly better moisture content than yesterday, hoping for better results.

Taking a jibe at the Opposition, Sirsa said, “A government that failed for 10 years cannot praise us. They couldn’t clean the water, couldn’t clean the air and couldn’t even ensure proper conditions for cloud seeding. They’ll try to obstruct everything we do...”

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Cloud Seeding Attempts Fail, But ‘Valuable’ Lessons Learnt

The Delhi government, in collaboration with IIT Kanpur, earlier conducted two cloud seeding trials throughout the day on Tuesday, hoping to induce artificial rainfall and curb the worsening pollution levels. However, officials later confirmed that no rainfall occurred due to insufficient cloud moisture.

IIT Kanpur Director Manindra Agrawal explained that the moisture content in the clouds was far below the required level for successful seeding. “We did not get a lot of cloud moisture. Given the low moisture content (around 15%), the possibility of rain was very low. So, we did not achieve success from that perspective,” Agrawal said.

However, he noted that the experiment was not entirely ineffective. “Data shows a reduction of 6-10% in PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations. This indicates that even with low moisture, seeding can still have some impact. It’s useful data for planning future trials,” he added.