Weather-Changing Machine Used During Culture Night

The cloud seeding machine that was used earlier this summer was also used during last weekend’s Culture Night celebrations.

Nútíminn reports that a cloud seeding machine was brought to Iceland from Britain for the express purpose of keeping last Saturday’s Culture Night festivities free of rain.

As those who were in Reykjavík that day can attest, it was a mostly rainy day, although precipitation slowed or stopped after 17:00 or thereabouts. The machine was reportedly used around the city that day, but parked itself on the roof of Gamla Bíó theatre for most of the evening.

As reported, this same machine was used for the Secret Solstice festival. The weather was fair and mild for that festival, leading many to put correlation together with causation.

While it is unknown how the machine works, it allegedly changes the air pressure in an area for a limited time, thereby reducing the chances that clouds will gather. Last year it was speculated that the device in question could be a cloudbuster, a device invented by Wilhelm Reich that purportedly utilised “cosmic orgone engineering” in order to disperse clouds.

Ultimately, though, it is uncertain whether the science behind cloud seeding actually works.