Scientists have been shooting particles into clouds since the 1940s, praying it will bring more rain and snow.

While researchers agree that “cloud seeding” can work in a laboratory setting, many have doubted how much precipitation it can generate in the real world. But that hasn’t stopped Western states from blasting silver iodide into the sky for decades, hoping it will relieve harsh droughts.

Now, start-up company Rainmaker said it has proved its cloud-seeding drones produced 142 million gallons of water in the form of snow. Some scientists said it’s too soon to know if the results are legitimate, as the data has yet to be peer reviewed, and even then it is a small amount of water in the face of the West’s intense drought. But if confirmed it could be a breakthrough, making it the first commercial cloud-seeding operation to prove it made precipitation.

Read more in the Washington Post here.

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