Do they do cloud seeding in Florida?
Executive summary
Yes — but only historically and episodically: researchers and private operators experimented with cloud seeding in Florida in the 1960s and 1970s, and state law has long regulated weather modification, yet in recent years there have been no active, authorized cloud‑seeding programs and Florida passed a 2025 law effectively banning new weather‑modification operations [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. What “doing cloud seeding” has meant in Florida’s past
Federal and academic programs seeded tropical cumulus over and around Florida beginning in the 1960s and into the early 1970s — single‑cloud experiments and field campaigns showed measurable effects in early studies and government reports document seeding work in Florida in 1963–1968 and results published in Science reported significant rain differences in trials in 1968 and 1970 [1] [2].
2. Legal framework: a licensing requirement that saw no modern applicants
Florida has had a weather‑modification licensing statute since 1957, but state records and reporting indicate the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has not received applications nor issued licenses or permits under that statute in decades, meaning formal, state‑sanctioned cloud‑seeding operations did not occur in recent years despite the law’s existence [3] [6] [7].
3. The 2025 political and legal turn: a ban and enforcement push
In 2025 the Legislature enacted Senate Bill 56, which criminalizes releasing substances into the atmosphere to alter weather, temperature, climate or sunlight and includes reporting requirements for airports; the law has been described in local reporting as a ban on cloud seeding and state officials began enforcement and outreach to airports after the law took effect [5] [8] [9].
4. Contemporary reality before and after the ban: no ongoing programs and industry interest elsewhere
Multiple local news outlets and state searches of NOAA and DEP archives showed no documented cloud‑seeding programs in Florida in the decade prior to the ban, and companies that do cloud seeding (including a named firm, Rainmaker) stated they did not operate an active program in Florida even as they pursue projects elsewhere — some Florida‑based firms have worked in other states such as Colorado [4] [5] [10].
5. Science, limits and the politics that propelled the ban
Atmospheric scientists and federal agencies note cloud seeding exists mainly to boost precipitation in colder, orographic environments and is used in parts of the western U.S., while Florida’s marine cumulus tend to “rain out” quickly and are less suited to reliable enhancement — experts told fact‑checkers that cloud seeding cannot create or steer hurricanes and that experiments don’t pose the catastrophic threats sometimes alleged [6] [11] [12] [13]. The 2025 law was adopted amid political messaging that tied weather modification to recent flood events and stirred conspiracy‑tinged concerns; critics and fact‑checkers pointed out the lack of evidence that cloud seeding caused those disasters and noted the legislation dovetails with rhetoric about “chemtrails” [14] [6].
6. Bottom line and reporting limits
The bottom line: Florida did have historical experiments and a long‑standing licensing law, but no documented, authorized cloud‑seeding programs have been active in recent decades and the state enacted a law in 2025 that effectively bans new weather‑modification activities and increases enforcement scrutiny; reporting reviewed here does not show ongoing seeding operations in Florida as of the cited sources [1] [2] [6] [4] [5]. Sources reviewed do not permit assessment of any undeclared, clandestine activity; the official record and contemporary reporting uniformly indicate absence of sanctioned programs and a statewide prohibition as the current legal posture [6] [9] [4].