[1] His father, Stephen, a property speculator, moved the family to Southern California in 1886, settling first in San Diego,[2][3] where Hatfield Sr built three houses.

As a young man growing up in Bonsall, Hatfield studied pluviculture and began to develop his own methods for producing rain, inspired by the way a boiling kettle attracted the water vapour rising from an adjacent, steaming pan on his mother's stove.

Contemporary weather bureau reports described the rain as a small part of a storm that was already coming, but Hatfield's supporters disregarded this.

On January 27 Lower Otay Dam broke, increasing the devastation and reportedly causing about 20 deaths (accounts vary on the exact number).

[10] The suit continued until 1938 when two courts decided that the rain was an act of God, which absolved him of any wrongdoing, but also meant Hatfield did not get his fee.

[4] Charles Hatfield died January 12, 1958, and took his chemical formula with him to his grave in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Hatfield's successes were mainly due to his meteorological skill, detailed study of rainfall statistics and innate sense of timing, selecting periods where there was a high probability of rain anyway.

John L. Bacon, a mayor of San Diego who studied Hatfield's so-called successes, regarded him as nothing more than "a darned good weather prophet.

Charles Hatfield and the San Diego flood is credited as the inspiration for the instrumental musical piece "The Rainmaker" from the album Innovators released in 1993 by Sam Cordon and Kurt Bestor.

[13] Charles Hatfield and the San Diego flood was featured in a 2016 episode of the White Rabbit Project on Netflix.

Charles Hatfield and his rainmaking endeavors are mentioned in Chapter One of Mark Arax's [14] 2019 book, "The Dreamt Land."