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<br />EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br /> <br />This report documents the data collection and subsequent analyses from the first two field programs of the <br />Arizona Snowpack Augmentation Program. The purpose of these field programs was to examine the <br />suitability of winter clouds over the Mogollon Rim area for possible future weather modification activities <br />aimed at increasing water supplies. Only naturally occurring cloud systems were studied during the period of <br />this report, and no cloud seeding was conducted. <br /> <br />Measurement programs were carried out during the mid-January to mid-March period of both 1987 and <br />1988. Two different primary ground-observing sites were used, both near the crest of the high terrain. <br />During early 1987, that site was Happy Jack, south of Flagstaff, while Hannagan Meadow in the White <br />Mountains of eastern Arizona was used in early 1988. The 1987 program was more comprehensive, including <br />aircraft, radar, and other observations not available during 1988. <br /> <br />One of the initial analysis efforts was to develop a storm episode classification system. In its final form, each <br />hour of each storm was typed by the scale of the weather disturbance causing it, whether synoptic (affecting a <br />large area) or mesoscale (affecting a local area), and by the presence or absence of significant convection; <br />that is, whether the clouds were predominantly stratiform or convective. This dual classification provided a <br />framework for other analyses. <br /> <br />The most important field observations were of cloud liquid water, chiefly collected by a ground-based <br />microwave radiometer. This relatively new instrument can continuously monitor the vertically integrated <br />amount of cloud liquid water above it. Winter precipitation over the Mogollon Rim is produced when the <br />normally supercooled (colder than 0 oc) cloud liquid water is converted into tiny ice particles that grow to <br />snowflake size and settle to the surface. Consequently, it is very important to measure the cloud liquid water <br />overhead as it is the "raw material" or "fuel" for precipitation. <br /> <br />It is known that cloud liquid water often forms over the windward side of mountain barriers due to the uplift <br />and associated cooling of moist air. Conversely, the cloud liquid water rapidly evaporates on the lee side due <br />to subsidence and warming of the air, resulting in the well-known "rain shadow" effect downwind of many <br />mountain ranges. In the Arizona studies, the radiometer was located so it could monitor the cloud liquid <br />water passing over the crest just prior to the evaporation zone. The cloud liquid water can therefore be <br />thought of as excess to that used by nature in producing precipitation because any cloud liquid water still <br />existing above the crest would likely soon evaporate. Similarly, small ice particles flowing over a mountain <br />crest soon begin sublimating. Therefore, successful cloud seeding involves converting excess cloud liquid <br />water into tiny ice crystals far enough upstream to permit growth into snowflakes that reach the surface <br />before sublimating in the lee of the barrier. <br /> <br />A number of findings resulted from applying the storm classification scheme to the cloud liquid water <br />observations. For example, the large majority of hours with cloud liquid water were produced by synoptic <br />scale disturbances. This suggests that the larger storms have the most potential for snowfall enhancement by <br />cloud seeding. Several of the storm episodes had apparently seedable conditions (excess cloud liquid water) , <br /> <br />1ll <br />