Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — National Center of Meteorology (NCM) Spokesman Hussein Al-Qahtani ruled out the possibility of using research technology that allows the clouds of Taif governorate to be transformed into the Holy Sites with the aim of reducing the severity of hot weather during the forthcoming Hajj season.

He said that it could benefit from this technology for the Hajj pilgrimage in future if it is approved by the concerned authorities. “The idea itself has not yet crystallized as it is still in its initial stages. The idea needs in-depth study by specialists before its implementation for the annual pilgrimage in future,” he said.

According to Al-Qahtani, the NCM intends, through the Regional Cloud Seeding Program, to implement the research technology that allows the transfer of Taif clouds to Makkah within the framework of expanding the work of the same center in the Holy Sites in order to reduce the temperature levels of the Holy Sites and modify the weather.

The idea of the project aims to enhance the benefit of clouds and exploit their properties in order to ensure remarkable levels of coolness in the atmosphere of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah during the Hajj seasons, he pointed out.

It is noteworthy that cloud seeding is a weather modification technique that improves a cloud’s ability to produce rain or snow by introducing tiny ice nuclei into certain types of subfreezing clouds. The Saudi Regional Cloud Seeding Program had carried out as many as 451 flights for cloud seeding and research with a total of 1,424 flight hours during the year 2023. This included 415 flights for cloud seeding taking 1,312:45 flight hours and 36 flights for research and study with a duration of 111:29 flight hours.