OCR Text |
Show Cloud Seeding Report Given at Kiwanis Addressing the members of the Cedar City Kiwanis club at their regular Monday evening meeting, Boyd E. Quate, meteorologist for Water Resources Development Corp., explained the program being be-ing carried out in southern Utah. He explained to the Kiwanians that the cloud seeding program does not make rain, but merely enduces a greater per cent of rainfall of a normal storm. Following Fol-lowing Is basically the text of his address: Benefits gained from cloud seeding can best be determined by comparing an area under the influence of cloud seeding operations opera-tions with an area nearby that has been under the influence of only natural weather processes, i. e. no cloud seeding. A comparison of the water content con-tent of the snow cover measurements measure-ments taken from the records for j southwestern Utah and those taken ta-ken for southeastern Nevada points out these benefits. Southwestern South-western Nevada has never been under the influence of cloud seeding, whereas southeastern Utah has had a cloud seeding program in operation continuously continuous-ly since April of 1951. The winters of 1950-51 and 1952-53 have been selected for comparison purposes because they were very similar years fmm a storminess point of view. During the winter of 1950-51 there were 43 storms during the months of November through March, whereas during the winter win-ter of 1952-53 there were only 41 storms during the same months. From the number of significant storms that passed over the area, the winter of 1952-53 should have been drier than the winter of 1950-51. To show the comparison between be-tween the cloud seeded area and the non seeded area, the follow-Ing follow-Ing figures have been taken from the cooperative snow course measurements mea-surements as made by the Soil Conservation Service and the State Experiment Stations: (figures (fig-ures represent water content in Inches). |