Which countries and states actively use cloud seeding programs in 2025?
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Executive summary
A loose but active global cloud-seeding landscape in 2025 spans dozens of countries — led by state-scale programs in China, the UAE, India, Australia and multiple U.S. states — with the World Meteorological Organization and other reporting putting active weather‑modification efforts at roughly 50 countries worldwide [1] [2]. National ambitions, local water needs and commercial markets drive a patchwork of programs whose geographic footprint is clear but whose effectiveness and transboundary implications remain contested [3] [4].
1. China: a national-scale program with big targets
China is repeatedly identified as the most expansive user of cloud seeding, having invested heavily to scale weather modification and announcing intentions to blanket millions of square kilometres by 2025 — figures cited include plans to cover more than 5.5 million km2 — and large multi‑province deployments that make it the world leader in both funding and operational scope [1] [5].
2. Gulf states and the UAE: intensive, technology-forward operations
The United Arab Emirates operates one of the most active regional programs, running hundreds to thousands of flight hours annually and experimenting with drones, hygroscopic flares and partnerships with research bodies such as NASA and NCAR; the UAE’s program dates back decades and is presented as a model in the Gulf for drought relief and water security [6] [7] [4].
3. India and Southeast Asia: national and state deployments, and pollution experiments
India’s federal and state agencies conduct cloud‑seeding operations in drought‑prone states including Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and have trialed artificial rain for urban pollution relief in New Delhi in 2025, often in partnership with institutes like IIT Kanpur; Indonesia has also used seeding north of Jakarta as recently as March 2025 to steer rainfall offshore [1] [7] [8].
4. United States: state-led mosaic—nine states with active programs
In the U.S. cloud seeding is largely local and state‑funded; the GAO and reporting list at least nine states with active programs in 2024–25 — California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and North Dakota — with Utah noted as the largest single state funder in recent appropriations [9] [3] [10]. Programs focus mainly on mountain snowpack augmentation and reservoir inflows in the Mountain West and Colorado River basin [11].
5. Australia, Japan and other national programs
Australia has long‑running programs (including Snowy Hydro efforts) focused on snowpack and water supply, while Japan hosts research collaborations on weather control methods; broader reporting and market analyses also list countries using or experimenting with seeding — examples include Thailand’s Royal Rainmaking Project, Canada, France, Israel, Morocco and Argentina — indicating a widely distributed global practice [2] [12] [4] [5] [6].
6. Scale, uncertainty and geopolitical frictions
Despite the geographic list of users, authoritative reviews sound caution: the GAO and others say assessing effectiveness is difficult and results range from measurable boosts to effects indistinguishable from zero, and the transboundary nature of weather raises diplomatic and legal concerns — Iran has accused neighboring actors of appropriating rainfall, and analysts warn wealthier states could dominate weather‑modification capacity absent international rules [3] [4] [5].
7. What “actively use” means in 2025 and reporting limits
“Active” ranges from routine, large‑scale national campaigns (China, UAE) to seasonal, project‑level efforts funded by states, utilities or private partners (U.S. states, Australian programs, Indian state trials); multiple sources approximate about 50 countries with some weather‑modification activity, but public reporting is uneven and many assertions about program size, hours flown or effects draw from national claims and market reports rather than uniformly audited datasets [1] [2] [4].