The desert region of Dubai received a record-breaking amount of rain -- two year's worth in 24 hours -- in April. Ever since, every time a flash flooding event occurs, ABC New Chief Meteorologist and Managing Editor of the ABC News Climate Unit Ginger Zee has been receiving messages on social media from people who claim the sharp increase in precipitation is not the result of nature.
The commenters are often referring to cloud seeding, a weather modification technique currently used in the United Arab Emirates and several places in the U.S., mostly in the Western U.S., a region notorious for its pervasive droughts. The geoengineering technology involves injecting microscopic particles -- sometimes silver iodide -- into the atmosphere to encourage rain and snowfall.
Cloud seeding can increase seasonal precipitation by about 10%, according to the Desert Research Institute (DRI).
A 10-year cloud seeding experiment in the Snowy Range and Sierra Madre Range in Wyoming resulted in 5% to 15% increases in snow pack from winter storms, according to a 2015 report from the Wyoming Water Development Office. In the region around Reno, Nevada, cloud seeding is estimated to add enough water to supply about 400,000 households annually, according to the DRI.
If humans could control the weather, then the megadrought in the West would probably never had persisted at the level that it did for decades, Udall said.
In late September and early October, Google searches for cloud seeding ramped up again as Hurricanes Helene and Milton caused severe destruction far beyond the storm's direct impact, including flash flooding in the mountain region near Asheville, North Carolina, previously considered a climate haven.
The amplification of Earth's natural warming has actually increased hourly rainfall rates -- a key factor in flash flooding -- across much of the U.S. by 10% to 40%, according to Climate Central.
ABC News' Daniel Manzo contributed to this report.