WMOD00390

• Title: A Proposed Wintertime Weather Modification Research Program for Colorado
• Date: 1/1/1980
• State: CO
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

The identification of the size and specific area of the State
to establish this program will depend primarily on the amount of
support in that specific region for additional water or snowpack,
financial long-term support, and the cooperation of the county
governments and local citizens to support this program concept
in order to gain pertinent public information concerning winter
cloud seeding. It would be helpful for this program to be located
in an area that has had some cloud seeding in the past so that most
of the local residents would be familiar with cloud seeding and the
issues surrounding it. Because of their interest, they may be more
willing to provide needed social data and costs in support of the
various question areas addressed by this program. The initial
area selected for consideration for this program in Colorado is a
large portion of the Central and North Central Mountain ranges.
Figure 5 indicates this primary area and five secondary areas
further southwest through northwest. There will be a distinct
cost advantage in consolidating the program as much as possible.
However, to gain as much information as possible over somewhat
different portions of Colorado and under various types of weather
events, it may be necessary to consider some smaller satellite
program areas. The luxury of having more than one major area
will primarily be dependent on the ability of the various partici-
pating entities to develop a large enough budget to accomplish all
of the intended tasks.
The primary area selected for this program appears to offer
the greatest versatility in being located such that most of the
storm types that are familiar to Colorado can be observed and
treated. Also, the varying orientation of the terrain of the
region allows for ideal primary and secondary treatment of single
weather events. The primary area also comprises the areas of
interest of nearly all of the entities supporting this design
concept. This area also contains segments of Colorado's popula-
tion that have in the past presented valid concerns about the
potential overall effects that previous operational winter cloud
seeding programs may have had upon their communities. The
previous cloud seeding programs in this area have been widely

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