Can Rain Makers Really Make Rain?

Whenever there's a drought, someone will comeIn primitive societies, rain makers usually have an
up withthe idea of finding a rain maker, or holdinginbuilt
a day ofprayer for rain."get out" clause. The rain making ceremony
Now far be it for me to make light of people whoconsists ofcertain things done by the rain maker,
arein truly desperate straits and who aresupported by otherrituals, requirements, or
prepared to tryanything to relieve their precariousprohibitions required of thecommunity the rain
situation. The worstthat can happen, assuming nomaker is serving.
deliberate or unknowingfraud, is that everyoneThese may be bans on certain foods or practices,
has something else to thinkabout for a day or so.but ifthe rain doesn't come, who is to say that
For a while they have some causefor hope.someone in thecommunity failed to play their part,
And it may indeed rain and the drought will bedestroying the rainmaker's good efforts?
over.And eventually, with persistence, the rain will
But in most cases not.come.
For more information on droughts, visitSo, in a very general way, that's how the rain
Rain making can be divided into two types -maker works.
cloudseeding, which has strong scientific andBut let's see what he or she is up against.
engineeringreasoning behind it, and, for theWeather is the local end result of the effects of
moment, everything else.the vastatmospheric circulation system, which
Cloud seeding has been used to create orworks towards creatingsome sort of balance
increase rainfor over 50 years, and while thebetween unequal heating of the earthssurface,
results are a littlepatchy and rarely spectacular,the planet's rotation, transferring water fromthe
when the right combinationof cloud seedingoceans to the atmosphere and back again,
method and clouds is present, it has beenshownvariabledistribution of warm and cold water
to work many times over, and in a cost effectivecurrents in the oceans,and much, much more.
way.All this takes a huge amount of energy. Let's put
But what of the rest? I don't wish to question theit inperspective. In 1945, an atomic bomb was
powerof prayer, which presumably transcends alldropped on the
physical rules,but it is worth looking at just what itJapanese city of Hiroshima, effectively destroying
would take tochange the weather pattern beforeit.
it is ready tochange.That bomb was the equivalent of 12,500 tons of
But first let's take a look at the rain maker'sTNT, or
methods.12.5 kilotons. An average thunderstorm
They can be divided into two parts - localgeneratesthe equivalent of 20 kilotons.
knowledge andrainmaking techniques orA hurricane generates the equivalent of a 10
ceremonies.megaton bomb
Firstly, rainmakers with a good reputation will- 10 million tons of TNT - every 20 minutes.
generallybe folk with a strong knowledge of localSome peoplehave asked why large bombs aren't
weather, climate,and seasonal changes. Some ofused to divert ordestroy hurricanes. Others have
these may be subconscious,but I think we cansuggested that would beabout as effective as
give them some credit for astutenessand goodthrowing a ping-pong ball at acharging elephant.
observational powers. This allows the rainmakertoTo create rain out of nothing, a rain maker would
practise his or her rituals at a time when aneedto control huge amounts of energy to
changein the weather seems most likely. Withovercome the inertiaof the stable weather
good local weatherknowledge, chances of successsystems associated with droughts.
will be high, and in anyevent, payment is usuallyWith that sort of power, why hasn't the rain
dependent on success. It isalso human nature tomaker takenover the world, hopefully for the
remember (and advertise) thesuccesses andgood of all, or at thevery least made his fortune
forget the failures.by affecting the results ofhorse races?