In mid-April, the UAE was hit by heavy rain and strong winds, along with other Gulf countries. The extreme weather caused flooding and major disruptions in the region, and claimed more than 20 lives. In this context, misinformation has been circulating on the internet that weather manipulation may have been behind the chaos. It is well known that the United Arab Emirates uses a technique known as cloud seeding. This is a technique that can increase the rain-producing capacity of clouds. However, experts say cloud seeding may not have such a large-scale impact and that the extreme weather event is "most likely" due to climate change. Prior to the storm, the UAE authority and its weather forecasting services warned of heavy rainfall, and the country's meteorological centre denied to AFP that "any cloud seeding operations were carried out during this period".