Facebook Forecast: Indoor Rain

The executive in charge of Facebook’s electronic infrastructure confirmed to London’s information-technology website The Register in June that when the company inaugurated its “cloud” data-storage facility in Prineville, Ore., in 2011, the equipment was “drenched” when an actual cloud formed inside the building. (Facebook had only “hinted” previously at a Prineville “humidity event,” according to The Register.) The tall, huge building’s cooling units use an electricity-saving system that takes air from outside (rather than re-circulated indoor air) and subjects it to various humidity levels to cool the heat coming from the aisles of computer servers. Apparently, engineers hadn’t accurately anticipated the new system’s vapor condensation profile, and rain guards were promptly installed.