Study Proposes Cloud Seeding With AI to Alter Hurricane Tracks

A study published June 24 in the journal PLOS Water proposed combining existing cloud-seeding technology with high-density real-time observations and AI models to alter the tracks or intensity of extreme weather events. Usa Today reported that the authors said small, carefully timed operations applied days before peak intensity could have shifted the track of Superstorm Sandy in 2012 by about 300 miles.

The same methods could have raised the low temperature of the 2021 Texas freeze by about 18 degrees Fahrenheit and reduced precipitation from a 2022 atmospheric river in California by about 5 percent.

Study co-author Upmanu Lall of Arizona State University compared the approach to jiu-jitsu, stating that the basic principle is to achieve maximum efficiency with minimal effort.S. states currently use cloud seeding while ten have banned or considered banning the practice.

Florida enacted a ban in 2025. The most common applications remain increasing precipitation or suppressing hail through the addition of silver iodide particles. Kara Lamb, an associate research scientist at Columbia University, said it is very difficult to separate the effects of human intervention from the natural variability of hurricanes.

Robert Rauber, director emeritus at the University of Illinois, stated that even if humans could move storms the political, international and legal fallout would be so great that it would never happen. Usa Today reported that the authors acknowledged ethical questions but said they are focused for now on developing the science and engineering capacity.

Viral claims after the Texas floods of 2025 alleged that a nearby cloud-seeding operation caused the disaster that killed dozens of people, many of them children.