An American firm – Weather Modification – based in Fargo, North Dakota is helping Saudi Arabia to increase the chance of rainfall. “Weather Modification can't work miracles by producing rain where there is no possibility of it. But the company can increase the chance of rain and the amount of rain that does fall,” Jim Sweeney, company vice president, said in information made available to Saudi Gazette here. “We nudge Mother Nature along,” he said. Weather Modification has worked in the Kingdom for more than three years on air quality monitoring, atmospheric research and cloud seeding missions. Currently, 10 Weather Modification aircraft are active in Saudi Arabia. In what Sweeney described as “a technology transfer program,”12 new aircraft – to be modified in Fargo and flown to Saudi Arabia over the next one and half years – will be operated by the Saudis, replacing the weather modification aircraft. He explained that Weather Modification's alterations to the planes include adding electronic probes and equipment that dispenses rain-boosting chemicals. Sweeney declined to put a price tag on the project, but said it is the biggest his company has handled. “We have developed this project into one of the most comprehensive cloud seeding and research programs in the world today,” said Patrick Sweeney, Weather Modification president. Saudi Arabia, which now relies heavily on pumped groundwater and desalinization plants, is determined to increase rainfall. Ice Crystal Engineering of Kindred, North Dakota, is providing the cloud seeding flares used in Saudi Arabia. “We have the fun part,” said Jim Gunkelman of Ice Crystal Engineering. He said his company's work force has grown to 19 from 15 two months ago, in part because of the Saudi project. Weather Modification was launched in 1961 in Bowman, North Dakota. It moved in 1993 to Fargo. Today, Weather Modification – a sister company of the Fargo Jet Center – has more than 50 employees and has worked with more than 35 countries around the world. Sweeney said that about 25 percent of Weather Modification's work is done in the United States. “But most of our work is done overseas, and we think this Saudi project can lead to even more international projects for us,” he added.
