WMOD00295

• Title: Guidelines for Cloud Seeding to Augment Precipitation
• Date: 1/1/1995
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

ASPECTS OF PRECIPITATION ENHANCEMENT 23

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16 Lake
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12
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2

00 20 30 40 50
Amount of Snow (em)

Figure 2.3- Hours per Employee Required to Remove Given Amounts of
Snow in Three Colorado Counties (Sherretz and Loehr 1983)

compute snow removal costs accurately. Such aspects are aggregate ef-
fects similar to those identified with summer seeding.

2.2.3 Deciding the Goal and Scale of Economic Analysis

The expectation of some form of economic benefit provides the pri-
mary motivation for the application of cloud seeding technologies. The
multiplicity of economic considerations appropriate for cloud seeding
operations is explained by the preceding case studies and examples.
Uncertainties in the technology add to uncertainties in the economic
evaluations, but to some degree this is true in any area of interest. A
global view of aspects appropriate to consider is well stated by Sonka
(1979):

Because weather events can have severe adverse effects on economic
activity, the gross benefits of successful weather modification activi-
ties are apparently very high. And, in general, the operational costs of
modification activities are small relative to those gross benefits. [But]
the existence of such positive net benefits does not insure that some
individuals would not suffer substantial decreases in welfare. Prob-
ably the most important aspect in determining the credibility of any
economic analysis, however, is the viewpoint of that analysis. . . . it
should be clear that the goal of the analysis is to determine the effects
of the modification activity on the entire economy of a region, not
just impacts on those sectors which derive benefits from the planned
activity.

This view of a comprehensive economic evaluation must be tempered
by the scope of an operational project and the practical capabilities of the