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6. Who decides if and when clouds are seeded? Typically, a meteorologist is the director of operations for cloud seeding missions. A number of factors playa part in the decision-making process which includes local atmospheric conditions, weather forecasts, seeding suspension criteria and aircraft safety concerns. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 7. What methods are used to deliver seeding material to suitable clouds? Seeding is typically done either by specially-equipped aircraft or via ground-based "generators" at higher elevations in mountainous areas. 8. Does rain or snow from a seeded cloud taste or smell different than natural precipitation? No. There is no discernible difference between precipitation from a seeded cloud versus precipitation from a non-seeded cloud. 9. Can cloud seeding change weather patterns? No. Cloud seeding may change individual clouds or groups of clouds, but weather patterns are determined by large-scale atmospheric conditions which cloud seeding cannot affect. 10. Can cloud seeding end droughts? Though drought is sometimes the impetus for implementing a cloud seeding program, cloud seeding is not generally advocated for such purposes. The reason for this is that droughts are typically characterized by prolonged periods with a lack of precipitation- producing clouds. Therefore, cloud seeding opportunities during these periods would be very limited and the results likely marginal. A long-term and well designed cloud seeding program can potentially soften the impact of drought, however, as increased precipitation production before and after drought could temper the shortfall of precipitation during the drought period. 11. How do we know what happens inside clouds? A number of scientific research experiments have been conducted from which we have learned much about the basic processes of precipitation initiation and development. Much of that knowledge has been applied to cloud seeding technology, thereby making cloud seeding more effective now than ever before. However, additional research is still needed to answer remaining questions and further improve cloud seeding practices. 12. How can seeding effects be measured? Seeding effects and benefits can be demonstrated in a number of ways. The most direct method would be to conduct a project over several years in which half of the storms were randomly selected for seeding and the resulting precipitation from the seeded and unseeded storms were compared. The problem with this method, however, is that project sponsors usually want all of the seedable clouds treated (not half) to attain the maximum benefit possible from the program.