WMOD00263 ‎(2)‎

• Applicant: CWCB
• Sponsor Name: USBR
• Project Name: Response to RFP
• Title: Numerical Simulations of Snowpack Augmentation for Drought Mitigation Studies in the Colorado Rocky Mountains
• Prepared For: USBR
• Prepared By: Joe Busto, CWCB
• Date: 8/20/2003
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Application

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Executive Summary

The State of Colorado has had a weather modification-permitting program since 1972.
Authority for this program resides in the Executive Director's Office of the Department
of Natural Resources. Since 1987, this authority has been delegated to the Director of the
Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB). The CWCB's Flood Protection Section
has been administering Colorado's program for issuing permits for cloud seeding
activities since 2001. In 2002, the number of active permits increased from four to seven
for ground-based wintertime precipitation enhancement programs. A new application for
a permit has been received for the 2003-2004 winter season. With the new programs,
approximately 25-30 percent of Colorado's snowfields are now in target areas for cloud
seeding programs. These programs may hold the potential to significantly increase
headwater streamflow as the majority of Colorado's stream flows come from the melt-off
of winter snowpack. The CWCB welcomes the opportunity to work with the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) on the Weather Damage Modification Program
(WDMP). This collaboration will further the science of weather modification by linking
scientific analysis with an operational winter season cloud seeding program.

The research proposed is piggy-backed onto the Denver Water Department's (DWD)
snowpack augmentation program in which Western Weather Consultants, LLC (Larry
Hjermstad) provide the cloud seeding operations. For the upcoming winter season, the
expected funding level for this DWD program will be approximately $450,000. The
CWCB, Flood Protection & Weather Modification Permitting Section will manage the
proposed related research project. The CWCB will hire a consultant (Curt Hartzell,
CCM) to assist in the program management, closely oversee activities to ensure that the
program objectives are being achieved, and assist in the reporting task. A team from
Colorado State University (CSU), led by Dr. Bill Cotton (Principal Investigator),
proposes to provide a physical evaluation ofDWD's operational cloud seeding by using a
well-established numerical model system (RAMS). The research effort proposed
addresses solicitation section A.3 .1.4 Modeling within the experiment.

It is proposed that all of the RAMS related research activities by the CSU team would be
funded through the WDMP Grant received by the CWCB from Reclamation. All other
costs (project management, project administration, scientific and technical consultant,
operational cloud seeding, analysis by seeding contractor) will be covered by the CWCB
and DWD, which will more than meet the Solicitation's 50-50 cost sharing requirement.

The research study proposed is to have the CSU team run RAMS daily in real time for
the 2003-2004 winter season. The model will have a fine grid with horizontal spacing of
3 km covering a 240 km x 240 km area centered about 3 miles NE of Edwards, Colorado.
All of the area for the DWD's operational cloud seeding program is located within this
model grid box. Two sets of runs will be performed with RAMS, one in real time with a
background or control concentration of ice-forming nuclei and the other a post-analysis
with AgI generator production of ice-forming nuclei at specific sites and for pre-defined
times. Output from the daily model forecast run will be provided to the seeding
contractor in near real time.

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