United Arab Emirates is the country in which Dubai is located, so nothing they do should really surprise us. But still, the news that they are planning to construct an artificial mountain in order to increase rainfall is a little disquieting, in the sense that (we're no experts, but) it sounds like the kind of thing that could ultimately alter global weather patterns? Maybe? Who knows. Here's the science behind the rain mountain, as explained by Newsweek:
The scientific reasoning behind the scheme is that an artificial mountain forces air to rise, cool, condense and form clouds, resulting in rainfall. The process is known as cloud-seeding, but can sometimes have undesirable outcomes. In March, cloud-seeding caused havoc in the region when over 11 inches of rainfall poured down in under 24 hours.
It sounds like UAE's artificial mountain would be the largest example of this so far.
• UAE Plans Manmade Mountain to Increase Rainfall [Newsweek]