How are those counterpoints? None of the effects mentioned are rational statistically speaking. If anything they reinforce the example, because they show that some likely thought processes that would support belief in rainmaking are inherently anti-statistical.
You're assuming people are rational beings. Most evidence is to the contrary with beliefs passed down generations and many decisions intuitive with its mechanisms varying. There's also rational thought but makes up little of most people's day as intuition suffices. Also, there's documented biases in human mind that apply here:
The one-off event of rain forming becomes the story that everyone remembers most and is passed down with dogma. It gets lots of momentum. Day-by-day data generated for years and analytically processed isn't quite memorable. This is same reason people are more afraid of airplanes despite cars killing more. More relevant, it's the same kinds of bias that makes people think they'll win it big in the lottery despite all evidence to the contrary. I've walked in on 50yd lines when PowerBall is up. They'll always say "But such and such up North won $100mil. You never know. It can't hurt to try."
Illogical as hell given that time and money could produce real benefit with high certainty. Yet, they continue doing it to try to re-create that one-off moment someone else experienced. And then someone else experienced it again. :)
