Blink and you might have missed it, but the Royal Rainmaking Center claims it successfully made it rain in the East twice this year.
Chonburi Deputy Gov. Thammasak Rattanathanya and officials from the local Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives office visited the rainmakers’ Sattahip base, just outside Pattaya, Feb. 21 to get a progress report from Director Verapol Sudchada.
Verapol said the center has been using three Cessna airplanes to seed clouds, with operations launched Jan. 9-31 and Feb. 3-9.
In the first operation, pilots made 40 flights totaling 59.5 hours and the mission was 81 percent successful in creating rain in Pattaya, Rayong, Chanthaburi, Chachoengsao and Bangkok.
No figures on when the rain occurred or how much fell were given.
This month, 13 flights were made totaling more than 18 hours with the center claiming 100 percent success in creating rain in the five provinces. Verapol said water ended up in the Dok Klai, Bangpra, Klong Yai, Nong Plalai and Prasae reservoirs.
The cloud seeders have been hampered by a lack of clouds, which Verapol said was a byproduct of windy weather.
Thammasak said Chonburi isn’t afflicted by serious drought, but locally grown sugarcane, tapioca and pineapple could be impacted if it doesn’t rain substantially soon.
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