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I I I I I I r t..'*** ~'~IQ NORTH AMERICAN INTERSTATE WEATHER MODIFICATION COUNCIL Congressional Authorization of Weather Modification The North American Interstate Weather Modification Council (ihe NAIWMCj is a n(}l1~proJjl. fw:-eXt'mpf organi:lItion of regulatory agencies. sponsoring organizations. (111(/ research jnslilllfioll.'i inmh'ed in atmospheric waler resource mcmagement technology, common(r known as l\'cmher modijicatiofJ or c/o lid seeding. The NAIW Me exists to filcililare the free exclumg(' oj ;nlhrmat;oll regan/inl! cloud seeding research and opaations in Norlh America. B.-\CK{;HOlJf\rIiU I Natural disasters resulting from weather-related causes have always been pan of the history of the Western United States. Impacts from drought, hail, floods. and tornadoes amount 10 the loss of biIJions of dollars each year. As the population of that region of the country grows. the impact of future natural disasters will hecome more severe. (n the past. the United Stales Bureau of Reclamation has built a number of large darns and other waler projects to store water and help mitigate droughts. While these projects have been successful. increased environmental concerns and limited suitable sites have reduced the potential for similar new projects. Future effons will therefore be primarily non-structural in nature. and should include enhanced surface water production and address mitigation of other natural perils through weather modification techniques. I I I I For decades, the Bureau of Reclamation conducted "'eather modification research. Through these efforts, a sizeable body of knowledge was accumulated about winler and summer precipitation enhancement. Despite the success of the Bureau's program, funding for it was tenninated in the late 1980s. (n 2001, Congressional action re-established weather modification research in the Bureau through the Weather Damage Modification Program (WDMP). I I I I I I I I In 2003, the National Research Council reviewed the current status of weather modification operations and research and published a report entitled Criricall.'lsues in Weathl'r Mod(ficatioll Research. The NRC report recommends that a "coordinated national program be developed to conduct a sustained research ctTort in the areas of cloud and precipitation microphysics. cloud dynamics, cloud modeling, and cloud seeding; it should be implemented using a balanced approach of modeling. laboratory studies. and field measurements designed to reduce key uncertainties. .. 1\'OAA'S "'EATln:w MOUlHCATIO.~ R.EsEAWCH B.\CKGRov;o.;n The National Occanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) administered the Atmospheric Modification Program (AMP) in weather modification research from 1980 through 1994. This Federal-State cooperative program granted research funding to states conducting cloud seeding operations. NOAA laboratories actively participated in many of the state programs. The AMP W\\\\.namlnl:.llrc