Rainmaking
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rainmaking refers to the act of attempting to artificially induce or increase precipitation, usually to stave off drought. It takes two basic forms:
- In some societies, rain dances or other rituals have attempted supernaturally to increase rainfall. Though there is no scientific basis for the belief that this worked, the rituals are surprisingly persistent, with the Romanian ceremony known as paparuda continuing to the present day.
- Since the 1940s, cloud seeding has been used to change the structure of clouds by dispersing substances into the air, potentially increasing or altering rainfall.
- Operation Popeye was a US military rainmaking operation to increase rains over Vietnam during the Vietnam War in order to slow Vietnamese military truck activity in the region.
See also: cloud-buster.
The term is also used metaphorically to describe the process of bringing new clients into a professional practice such as law, architecture or consulting.
