22. When America Bombed the Sky to Make it Rain
There used to be a widespread belief that there was a causal relationship between battles and rain. In 1871, former Civil War general Edward Powers wrote War and the Weather, in which he documented several battles throughout history that were followed by rain. He theorized that the loud din of battle agitated the clouds, and caused them to release the rain stored within. That gave birth to what came to be known as “Concussion Theory”, which held that loud noises could force clouds to yield rain.
As Powers put it: “If lightning and thunder and rain have been brought on by the agency of man, when bloodshed and slaughter were only intended, this surely can be done without these latter concomitants“. Serious scientists and scholars scoffed, but two decades later Senator Charles B. Farwell of Illinois read Powers’ book and decided to test Concussion Theory. So he got Congress to appropriate $10,000 to make the tests.