The Philippine Air Force (PAF) conducted cloud seeding operations in Cagayan Valley to help farmers affected by the El Niño phenomenon, PAF spokesperson Col Ma Consuelo Castillo confirmed on Wednesday, February 28.
According to Castillo, the cloud seeding was first carried out on February 25 in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 2 and the Bureau of Soils and Water Management.
Aboard a civilian Piper Navajo aircraft, the personnel of the 900th Air Force Weather Group successfully spread 800 kilos of salt on cloud formations in Southern Cagayan and Northern Isabela.
The operation was carried out to support areas with low irrigation or heavy rainfall.
In a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo, Castillo said that cloud seeding is also planned to put out the forest fires in Benguet.
It is said that only 800 liters of water can be carried in a heli-bucket operation with only 15 flights in one mission.
PAF hopes to utilize its LC 210 aircraft to make rain in forests damaged by forest fires of at least 50 hectares as early as 2024.
In a separate interview with DZRH, Castillo speculated that it might take another week to get rain with cloud seeding because of the changeable weather.
"Based on the observations of weather officers and weather technicians, ini-estimate nila na one week natin na kailangan gawin. Pabago-bago ang panahon sa atin, hopefully magkaroon na ng clouds para i-trigger na lang natin sila," Castillo said.
"Experiment lang ito. Wala pa talaga tayong naging previous experience na talagang effective yung cloud-seeding," he added.
