USA tried to make rain by bombing clouds with dynamite in 1891. The $7,000 experiment for drought-hit Texas produced unexpected result

A group of men came to a Texas ranch in the summer of 1891 with an unusual plan to deal with the problem of drought. They brought dynamite and balloons and kites and explosives thinking that loud bangs would shake rain out of the clouds. The government paid for the experiment, which included a meteorologist and others, but it failed to persuade the scientific community that rain could be created by explosions.

The project was led by Robert G. Dyrenforth, a Washington-based patent lawyer who became interested in the idea that human activity could influence the weather. The US Congress had allocated $7,000 for the experiments, making the project an early government-backed attempt to investigate artificial rainmaking, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

The theory which linked rain to war

The idea originated partly from observations made by Edward Powers, a former Civil War general. In his 1871 book, War and the Weather, Powers documented instances of rain following major battles and suggested that cannon fire and explosions might have disturbed clouds, triggering rainfall.


His theory, known as concussion theory, got the attention of Illinois Senator Charles B. Farwell, who pushed for government funding. The Department of Agriculture was assigned the project, with Dyrenforth leading a team that included Smithsonian Institution meteorologist George E. Curtis and chemist Claude O. Rosell.

Dynamite blasts

The experiments began at C Ranch near Midland, Texas, in August 1891. The property belonged to Chicago meat-packing businessman Nelson Morris, and the surrounding region was experiencing drought.

The team tried to create rain by detonating explosives and sending balloons carrying explosive charges into the air. The operation didn’t always go according to plan with balloons drifting away, equipment not working and kites not flying properly.

When rain fell during the experiments, Dyrenforth considered it evidence that his method was working. After the final round of explosions on August 25, he reported hearing thunder and witnessing a heavy rainstorm.

However, the results were far from conclusive. Rainfall measurements were limited, and weather officials had reportedly forecast showers before the final experiment. The team also lacked proper control areas to establish whether the explosions had any effect.

Curtis, the expedition's own meteorologist, disagreed with Dyrenforth's conclusions. In an article published in Nature, he wrote that the experiments had provided no scientific support for the theory that explosions could produce rainstorms.

Why the experiment failed

The rainmakers continued their trials in other Texas locations, including El Paso and San Antonio, but the results remained inconclusive. Other attempts, including experiments funded by cereal businessman Charles W. Post between 1910 and 1914, also failed to establish a reliable link between explosions and rainfall.

The central problem was that rain could occur naturally, particularly when experiments coincided with weather conditions favourable to precipitation.

Rainmaking research later moved towards cloud seeding, which uses substances such as silver iodide to encourage precipitation in suitable clouds. Its effectiveness can still be difficult to measure.