Cloud Seeding

High Country Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council

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High Country RC&D

101 N. Bridge St.

St. Anthony, ID 83445

The water resources of the Snake River Basin (both surface and ground) are being stressed by drought, population growth , and increasing demands by agriculture, cities, and recreational activities. Therefore, the High Country Resource Conservation and Development Council conducted a winter cloud seeding program to augment snow packs. The target areas are the Upper Snake River Basin and those watersheds draining into Water Basin 31. The program began in 2007, we are now in our fourth season of successful cloud seeding. This seasons program will began in November 2010 and will continue to April 30, 2011 and was contracted

out to Clark County and Let it Snow, Inc.

Cloud Seeding Donations for Last Years 09-10 project:

A&B Irrigation District	East Cassia SWCD	Mud Lake SWCD
Bannock County	East Side SWCD	New Sweden Irrigation District
Bingham County	Enterprise Irrigation District	North Bingham SCD
Bingham Ground Water District	Fall River Rural Electric Cooperative	North Fremont Canal Systems, Inc.
Birch Power Company	Fremont County	North Side Canal Company, LTD.
Bonneville County	Fremont County Snowmobile Club	Power County
Central Bingham SWCD	Fremont-Madison Irrigation District	Progressive Irrigation District
City of Ammon	Henrys Lake Foundation	Reno Ditch Company
City of Arimo	Idaho Falls Power/City of Idaho Falls	Southwest Irrigation District
City of Iona	Idaho Irrigation District	Teton Irrigation & Manufacture Co.
City of St. Anthony	Jefferson County	Twin Falls Canal Compnay
City of Sugar City	Jefferson-Clark Ground Water District	Water District 1
Clark County	Madison County	West Side SWCD
Clark County Water District #32-C	Madison County Farm Bureau
Clark SCD	Madison SWCD

Results of Snake River Basin Cloud Seeding 09-10:

IDWR perspective on weather modification said there is conceptually

defensible and documented success. It is difficult to quantify the

effectiveness because so many variables exist. Success of the program

relies on the quality of the program as well as it's operators.

The North American Weather Consultants, Inc. prepared results from

regression equations developed for the operational uppers snake river cloud

seeding program. The results showed the northern region ranged from 2%

additional snow pack. While the eastern region ranged from 3-4% of additional

water content.

4For a PDF copy of the published results click the link above on the left side.

Future Goals for the Snake River Basin Cloud Seeding:

$150,000 to be raised for next year's cloud seeding project
Continue to partnership with Idaho Power
Hire an intern to help with fundraising
Add additional SNOTEL research sites
Expand into Wyoming to increase water shed coverage

What is cloud seeding?

Cloud seeding is a proven tool to increase precipitation

and numerous evaluations have indicated that cloud seeding , when properly applied, can produce precipitation increases up to 10% or greater. Cloud seeding is a form of weather modification. It can be used to disperse fog, suppress hail, or control winds, but is most often used to increase precipitation. It introduces other particles into a cloud to serve as cloud condensation nuclei and aid in the formation of precipitation.

Click the following link to North American Weather Consultants, Inc. for more information about cloud

seeding as well as other test plot results.

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