Cold War Nuclear Tests Changed Rainfall Patterns

SHETLAND ISLANDS, SCOTLAND — According to a study published in Physical Review Letters, the electric charge from radioactivity caused by atomic testing during the Cold War caused a rise in precipitation on the Shetland Islands in Scotland.

During the Cold War, radioactive pollution from American and Soviet Union atomic testing sites in the 1960s spread across the atmosphere.

Specialists from the Reading, Bath and Bristol universities participating in the study used information from bomb tests and records from the United Kingdom's national weather service to determine the long-term effects of bomb radioactivity.

According to data gathered from a research station in Scotland, experts found that on days when radioactivity was increased, clouds were heavier and rain increased by 24 percent.