Project Cumulus was a 1950s UK government initiative to investigate

weather manipulation Weather modification is the act of intentionally manipulating or altering the weather. The most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding, which increases rain or snow, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water supply. We ...

, in particular through

cloud seeding Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical ...

experiments. Known jokingly internally as ''Operation Witch Doctor'', the project was operational between 1949 and 1952. A conspiracy theory has circulated claiming that the Lynmouth Flood was caused by Project Cumulus. This claim is still ultimately unproven, and weather patterns have shown similar floods dating back to both the 18th and 19th centuries throughout Northern Wales and the UK.

Motivation

The military were interested in controlling the weather for several reasons, as detailed in the

minutes Minutes, also known as minutes of meeting (abbreviation MoM), protocols or, informally, notes, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting and may include a list of attendees, a state ...

of an

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

meeting held on 3 November 1953.Vidal, John and Helen Weinstein
RAF rainmakers 'caused 1952 flood'
''The Guardian'', 30 August 2001, retrieved 21 July 2007. They included: * "bogging down enemy movement"; * "incrementing the water flow in rivers and streams to hinder or stop enemy crossings"; * clearing fog from airfields.

Lynmouth disaster

On 16 August 1952 a severe flood occurred in the town of

Lynmouth Lynmouth is a village in Devon, England, on the northern edge of Exmoor. The village straddles the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers, in a gorge below Lynton, which was the only place to expand to once Lynmouth became as b ...

in north

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

. Nine inches (229 millimetres) of rain fell within twenty-four hours: "Ninety million tonnes of water swept down the narrow valley into Lynmouth" and the

East Lyn River The East Lyn is a river which rises high in Exmoor, in the English county of Somerset. It flows through the East Lyn Valley in Devon. Watercourse The river is formed as the Upper East Lyn at Malmsmead from two minor tributaries, the Oare ...

rose rapidly and burst its banks. Thirty-four people died and many buildings and bridges were seriously damaged. According to the BBC, "North Devon experienced 250 times the normal August rainfall in 1952."Rain-making link to killer floods
BBC, 30 August 2001, retrieved 21 July 2007. A conspiracy theory has circulated that the flood was caused by secret

experiments conducted by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. However, noting that the experiments were not secret, that the cloud seeding experiments were at the scale of individual clouds, and that the whole of the southwestern corner of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles (O ...

was affected by heavy rain at the time, the theory to whether the weather was impacted has been dismissed as "preposterous" by weather expert Philip Eden.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

The 1952 Flood Disaster in Context
Exmoor National Park Authority
"Weather"

Royal Meteorological Society The Royal Meteorological Society is a long-established institution that promotes academic and public engagement in weather and climate science. Fellows of the Society must possess relevant qualifications, but Associate Fellows can be lay enthus ...

, July 1952. Weather modification Programmes of the Government of the United Kingdom Royal Air Force deployments Conspiracy theories