Dubai makes it rain by 'zapping' clouds with electricity

Dubai has been able to influence the weather to control the heat by using new drone technology to zap clouds with electricity, creating rain.

The desert nation in the Middle East has been making it rain for years by "seeding" clouds via aircraft, but a recent downpour is believed to have been created with drones.

The UAE's National Centre of Meteorology shared images of rain on its Facebook page, tagging them '#cloudseeding.'

While it didn't say how the rain was created, the nation was due to trial new rain-making technology this year.

The drones were funded by the UAE but designed by scientists at the University of Reading, in the UK, according to reports.

They beam electricity into clouds which alters their electrical balance and creates rain, The National reported in May, in the nation where temperatures can hit 50C.

"The idea is that we're going to fly those into clouds and deliberately release a charge to charge up the cloud droplets," Dr Keri Nicoll, one of the projects scientists, told the paper.

A trial was set to begin, the BBC reported earlier this year.

The nation naturally only gets 100mm of rain a year.

Professor Maarten Ambaum worked on the project and said the "water table is sinking drastically" in the UAE.

"The purpose of this is to try to help with rainfall," Professor Ambaum told the BBC.

The technology could boots crops and water supplies in arid areas.

The UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science said the Programme is designed to "improve water security in arid and semi-arid areas around the world" on its website.

It said the UAE cloud-seeding program started in the 1990s.

It sees aircraft fly up to clouds and use salt particles to create rain.