Rainmaker

It is the uncertainty of rainfall in southern California that doubtless makes this region attractive to the rainmaker. […] An examination into the methods of the rainmaker shows a disregard of physical laws, and a review of the history of rainmaking affords no proof of his success. By far the most important feature of his work consists in playing upon the credulity of mankind.

By using a portable artificial "rainmaker" it is possible to obtain run-off data for rains of different amounts and intensities under a variety of conditions.

Unlike summer, when scattered thunderstorms are the primary rainmaker, September precipitation becomes increasingly controlled by large but infrequent low pressure areas that develop near or migrate toward Colorado.

Drought is the inherent vice of the climate of Africa, and the frequent destruction of the hopes of the husbandman which occurs from this cause, might have given origin to the function of "Rainmaker," among a less superstitious population. […] To procure rain, an ox is killed; the fat of it is chopped and mixed with different kinds of wood and leaves of trees; the whole are then burned. The secret of the business is to gain time by various artifices, until the rainmaker sees clouds arising in that direction from which rain generally comes.

I looked up from under the bush, and saw a dark place in the sky, I heard a voice, it said; "Call for rain,"—and I did call. But no rain fell—I knew I was to be a rain-maker. Our people have always had rain-makers among them. So looking up again, a flash of lightning came out of the cloud, I heard another voice, it said: I will send you a thunderbolt—pick it up—keep it, and when the earth is dry, hold it up towards the sky, and it will bring down the rain.

As in many other parts of Africa, the rainmaker is a personage of great importance, whose powers of calling down rain whenever it is wanted are universally believed by the people, and his services are always eagerly sought when a fire happens in their very combustible houses.

If you want the Vegetation to appear you must have rain; and the rain-maker in almost all primitive tribes has been a most important personage.

Traditional Acoma territory was defined through landmarks, namely shrines that have some directional symbolism attached to them. For example, the rainmaker of the north brings snow and lives at Mount Taylor; the rainmaker of the west brings rain and lives in the Zuni Mountains; the rainmaker of the south, who brings drizzling rain, lives at an unknown location; and the rainmaker of the east brings fog and mist and also lives at an unknown location[…].

Rainmakers consider seeding Bangkok sky as PM2.5 returns to ‘safe’ level [title] […] The Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation Department is preparing to seed clouds above Bangkok in an attempt to ease the capital’s smog problems.

The system, which involves an enormous network of fuel-burning chambers installed high up on the Tibetan mountains, could increase rainfall in the region by up to 10 billion cubic metres a year […] One of the biggest challenges the rainmakers faced was finding a way to keep the chambers operating in one of the world’s most remote and hostile environments.