Two Cloud Seeding Trials Over Delhi Skies Today. Rain Awaited

Two cloud seeding trials - to stimulate rainfall - were completed over parts of Delhi Tuesday afternoon. However, given the low moisture content in the clouds - 15 to 20 per cent - the chances of rain are low, NDTV's Science Editor, Pallava Bagla, said.

The Delhi government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur) in September to carry out five trials, all of which are planned over northwest Delhi, at a cost of Rs 3.21 crore.

The five can take place any time between October 1 and November 30.

IIT (Kanpur) said it seeded a corridor roughly 25 nautical miles (46.3 km) long and four nautical miles (7.4 km) wide, with the largest distance covered between the neighbourhoods of Khekra and Burari. The first round involved six flares released at an altitude of 4,000 feet. The second took off at 3.55 pm and deploying eight flares at a slightly higher altitude, around 5000 feet.

What is cloud seeding

Cloud seeding is the adding of chemicals like silver iodide nanoparticles, iodised salt, and dry ice to the atmosphere to 'trick' the environment into raining, and is used in areas experiencing water scarcity or to reduce hail and clear fog. It can be done using airplanes, rockets, or machines on the ground.

Why Delhi wants artificial rain

The national capital is infamous for its polluted air.

NDTV Expains | What Is Cloud Seeding And Why Delhi Wants To Do It

The city experiences high levels of pollution throughout the year, and that problem is exarcebated in the winter months, when weather conditions conspire with noxious smoke released from farm fires in neighbouring states. Toxic smoke from the bursting of firecrackers from Diwali adds to the deadly mix.

This season the Supreme Court relaxed its normally strict rule on the latter and allowed 'controlled' bursting of 'green' firecrackers. However, rules about timings were openly ignored and, judging by the deathly gray haze that covered the city on the morning after Diwali, so was the 'green' crackers rule.

READ | 'Green' Crackers Failed. Delhi Suffers Worst Post-Diwali Air In 5 Years

In fact, despite a 77.5 per cent drop in farm fires - a key reason for air pollution - the AQI in the city plummeted to a five-year post-Diwali low. Average PM2.5 levels reached shocking averages of 488 micrograms per cubic metre - nearly 100 times the exposure limit advised by the World Health Organization - and, perhaps worse, a catastrophic 212 per cent increase from pre-Diwali levels. 

#WATCH | Aircraft for cloud seeding in Delhi has taken off from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

(Video Source: IIT Kanpur media cell) pic.twitter.com/hxhMQLvMPk

— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2025

And that worrying trend has continued even a week after Diwali.

As of 8 am, the AQI in several parts of the city was over the 300-mark; in south Delhi areas like Siri Fort it was 350. It was over 300 in other areas too, RK Puram (320), Bawana (336), Burari Crossing (326), Dwarka Sector 8 (316), Mundka (324), Narela (303), and Punjabi Bagh (323).

The polluted air is reducing citizens' life expectancy by an average of 11.9 years compared to the World Health Organisation guidelines, a report by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago said. 

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