The Rain in Bangers Falls Mainly...

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when King Bhumidol makes it...
No, not entirely true - the rain falls quite frequently during the rainy season without any intervention by the King, but the King of Thailand is able to make rain fall. I kid you not. Right now, it is bucketing down in 66 provinces of Thailand, including Bangkok, because it's been incredibly dry and the King has made it rain.

No, it's not hocus-pocus. The King, who invests a lot of money in researching sustainable agriculture and development, funds the Royal Rain-Making Research and Development Project. The King has been researching artificial rain since 1956 and the first successful attempt occurred in 1969. The process involves sending up planes to clouds which have suitable levels of humidity, and "seeding chemicals and dry ice from a certain altitude and over specified areas in order for condensation to occur, so that cloud-formations could be directed to a pre-determined locaton for precipitation as rainfall."

Apparently his method has been criticised by environmentalists, but in my quick internet search, I couldn't find out why.

The King has been granted a patent for this. According to the BBC, "The patent will be granted for the King's "super-sandwich" technique, which involves using aircraft to "seed" warm and cold clouds at different altitudes to make rain.

"Seeding involves using chemicals to trigger rainfall in clouds, and the King's technique is said to be particularly successful in that it can more precisely target areas where the rain is to fall.

"The Thai king is involved in a number of environmental and agricultural projects, and this will be the fourth patent he has been awarded."

I ain't no monarchist, but this guy is da bomb.

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