RAIN is just airborne bacteria’s way of getting down to the ground. That’s the startling conclusion of an analysis of snow samples from around the world, which reveal that rain-making bacteria are ubiquitous in the atmosphere.
Particles of soot and other tiny pieces of inorganic debris are important “seeds” of precipitation. That’s why particles of silver iodide and dry ice are sometimes used to encourage rainfall. The idea that bacterial cells could also trigger rain is not new, but until now no one had appreciated the sheer extent to which biological particles apparently contribute to rainfall.
“They are everywhere in the atmosphere,” says Brent Christner…
