The organization told CNBC that it did not dispatch pilots for seeding operations before or during the storm that struck the UAE on Tuesday. Omar AlYazeedi, deputy director general of the NCM, said that the institution "did not conduct any seeding operations during this event." He added, "One of the basic principles of cloud seeding is that you have to target clouds in its early stage before it rains, if you have a severe thunderstorm situation then it is too late to conduct any seeding operation." The NCM denial follows an earlier Bloomberg report, in which Ahmed Habib, a specialist meteorologist, had said that the Tuesday rains had stemmed partly from cloud seeding. Habib later told CNBC that six pilots had flown missions as part of regular protocol, but had not seeded any clouds.

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Persons: Omar AlYazeedi, Ahmed Habib, Habib Organizations: National Center of Meteorology, United Arab Emirates, CNBC, Bloomberg Locations: DUBAI, Dubai, UAE, Emirate, Al Ain