In the United States, rainmaking was attempted by traveling showmen. It was practiced on the American frontier, but may have reached a peak during the Dust Bowl drought of the US west and midwest in the 1930s. The practice was depicted in the 1956 film The Rainmaker. Attempts to bring rain directly have waned with development of the science of meteorology, laws against fraud, and improved weather forecasting, with some exceptions such as cloud seeding and forms of prayer including rain dances, which are still practiced today. Prayers for rain is also a common cultural practice for Christians and Muslims. In some Christian areas, clerics of the Eastern Orthodox Church are believed to possess the power to arrest rain, bring hail to the farms of wayward souls, as well as to bring rain when the rainy season falls short.

Psalms 78

God’s Kindness to Rebellious Israel

A Contemplation of Asaph.

1Give ear, O my people, to my law;Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.2I will open my mouth in a parable;I will utter dark sayings of old,3Which we have heard and known,And our fathers have told us.4We will not hide them from their children,Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.5For He established a testimony in Jacob,And appointed a law in Israel,Which He commanded our fathers,That they should make them known to their children;6That the generation to come might know them,The children who would be born,That they may arise and declare them to their children...

Judg 4:8-9 (NKJV)

8 And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”9So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.