Using Drones to Make Rain and Snow with Rainmaker

Using Drones to Make Rain and Snow with Rainmaker

From Inevitable by an MCJ podcast

January 20, 2026 · 51 min

About this episode

Augustus Doricko discusses the use of drones and cloud seeding to combat water scarcity and the advancements that allow for measuring human-caused precipitation.

Augustus Doricko is Founder and CEO at Rainmaker, a company using cloud seeding, drones, and radar to increase rain and snow as water scarcity and drought intensify across the West. In this episode of Inevitable, the conversation focuses on why cloud seeding—often misunderstood as science fiction or geoengineering—has existed for decades and why it has only recently become possible to prove it actually works. The discussion centers on the industry’s core constraint: attribution. For years, operators couldn’t measure whether precipitation would have occurred anyway. Doricko explains how advances in dual-polarization radar and targeted flight paths now make it possible to identify human-caused snowfall, unlocking a path to scale. Doricko also walks through Rainmaker’s vertically integrated approach, from weather-resistant drones and proprietary radar to software and validation systems, and why the company focuses on snowpack as a bankable water source. The episode also addresses public scrutiny, regulatory bans, and what it takes to build water infrastructure in a category that’s easy to misunderstand but increasingly necessary.

People in this episode

Guest: Augustus Doricko

Topics covered

  • drones
  • cloud seeding
  • water scarcity
  • snowpack
  • geoengineering

Keywords

  • Rainmaker
  • dual-polarization radar
  • weather-resistant drones
  • water infrastructure

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Rainmaker

Books & works: Inevitable

Places: West

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