They have begun to spread on social media and on the web hoaxes and fake news on the presumed origin of the recent one Valencia floodin which a year’s rain fell in three and a half hours. A quick visit to social media is enough to read about imaginative theories linked to recent activities cloud seeding (in Italian “cloud seeding”) in Morocco which would have produced “artificial rain”, or to the alleged role of HAARP. The floods of October 29th, which have so far caused at least 217 victims and 1,900 missing people, were actually caused by a combination of factors that acted on a DANA, a “cold drop” that produced violent self-healing storms in southern Spain .
The “alternative explanations” that are circulating are not only false, but also consolatory, especially when one does not want to face the fact that the increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme meteorological phenomena is to be found in climate change produced by human activities, as the entire scientific community has been repeating for several years now. Indeed, according to the World Meteorological Organizationone of the world’s leading authorities, «the rainfall was more abundant by about 12% and twice as likely compared to the climate in pre-industrial times”. Here we examine the two main hoaxes about the origin of the disaster and explain why they have no scientific basis.
Flood in Spain and cloud seeding in Morocco: no relationship
According to a theory that has been circulating a lot in recent days, the extraordinary rainfall that hit the Valencian Community could be attributed to “cloud seeding” operations implemented by the Moroccan Government. The theory probably arises from the fact that a few months ago the weather site El Tiempo declared that the Spanish Government would be “concerned” about the cloud seeding operations carried out in neighboring Morocco. However the Spanish governmental national authority in meteorological matters, i.e AEMET, he never expressed these concerns. The theory of geoengineering was also further spread by a recent interview with Miguel Bosewho however, being a singer, has no metorological or climatic expertise and – indeed – his position as a climate change denier has been known for some time.
The cloud seeding is a geoengineering technique that consists of injecting particles into clouds to stimulate the formation of raindrops with the aim of increasing precipitation. These particles can have hygroscopic functionthat is, they “attract” humidity (such as sodium chloride, i.e. common table salt) or they can act as condensation nucleii.e. the “bricks” from which raindrops are formed (this is the case of silver iodide or CO2 solid). This technique is tested in many countries with a desert climate, such as the United Arab Emirates or Morocco. The purpose is of course have more rain in your territorynot cause natural disasters in other countries, yet cloud seeding is often in the crosshairs of conspiracy theories, often related to the hoax of the so-called “chemtrails” (which are nothing other than contrails).
Morocco is actually investing in cloud seeding. In 2024 the North African country has carried out so far 70 cloud seeding operationsof which 30 from the ground and 40 from the air. However, this cannot have had any effect in Spain. Firstly because cloud seeding only works locallyat the level of individual disturbances: you cannot do it in Morocco and have effects in another country. Furthermore, the effects of this technique are limited to a few tens of minutes after the operationsat most a few hours: it is therefore to be excluded that operations carried out days or weeks earlier could have had even a minimal influence on what happened in Spain.
Furthermore, it must be taken into account that this technique has avery limited effectivenesswhen it has it: in cases where it works the best it can increase rainfall by 10% about. We do not know in detail the results of the experiments carried out in Morocco, but even assuming a 10% increase in precipitation, the Valencia event would still have been catastrophic, given the amount of rain that fell. However, let us remember that with cloud seeding you can’t make it rain on command: at most we can increase the rainfall that would already have occurred due to natural causes.
The same conspiracy theories arose only six months ago after theflood in Dubai on April 16, 2024, mainly because the UAE had conducted cloud seeding operations shortly before the disaster. Even in that case however – as in all the others – the scientific community had completely denied these theories: to date simply There is no direct cause-and-effect relationship between cloud seeding and flooding nowhere in the world.
HAARP could not have caused the torrential rains in Valencia
Great protagonist of conspiracy theories all over the world, HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is actually a “simple” system of 180 antennas located in Alaska that sends radio waves into the atmosphere to study the ionosphere, i.e. the portion of the atmosphere above approximately 50 km altitude. Generally, when something bad and very “energetic” happens there are always those who bring up this US installation as if it were some sort of mysterious Area 51.
Despite the fame they have given it, however, HAARP does not produce particularly energetic waves: the ground power of the radiation emitted by the antenna system ranges from 0.03 W/m2 (watts per square meter) a 0.08 W/m2. To be clear, it is a power comparable to that of a fridge light bulb 5.5 meters away. In short, it is nowhere near enough to create very violent self-healing storms on another continent (Valencia is a 8500 km away from HAARP antennas).
Furthermore, as mentioned, HAARP studies the ionosphere, so the waves produced by its antennas interact with the upper atmosphere, at more than 50 km above sea level. All meteorological phenomena, however, including the DANA that caused the Valencia disaster, occur less than 10 km above sea level, in the troposphere. We are talking about two totally different atmospheric layers separated by several tens of kilometers. It is therefore physically impossible for HAARP activity to have any effect on weather or climate.
