WMOD00574

• Title: Studies of Wintertime Storms Over the Tushar Mountains in Utah
• Date: 3/1/1986
• State: UT
• Country: United States
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

16

likely that .only.a ~raction of this amount could be realized.
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"'-~9\!!I

To put this value in perspective, consider it in terms of the

average 70 year annual runoff.~~~:o..t~e Beaver River (which drains the
~".'''~''':'''''''_'''':,--...=..._..c_ '- _ ~ -....;'''"--'_....

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target area) -- 38,250 acre feet. Cloud seeding during appropriate

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periods of storms with the ideal conditions described above and with 100

percent efficiency would have produced a 45 percent increase over the

--

natural runoff.

/30/8
-

"3e z..~O -
- FEBRUARY 8-9,

::s'i%

III. CASE STUDY STORM

1985

A. Overview

The Objective of this analysis was to assemble a case study

description of one STORM event and to intercompare the observations that

were obtained in order to arrive at a better understanding of the

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precipitation formation processes and the potential for cloud seeding

opportunities. A large variety of measurements were made, including:

dual wavelength radiometer, Ka-band radar, C-band radar, rawinsondes,

surface observations of precipitation type and amount, LIDAR, and the

icing probe.

The February 8-9 STORM was a large scale cold frontal system which

went through several different phases of structure and precipitation

processes. The additional orographic component could not be readily

differentiated from the large scale storm. This one STORM provided about

13 percent of the total precipitation during the two-month project.

Some positive potential for cloud seeding was likely because

considerable supercooled liquid water was present during both light and

heavy precipitation periods, and cloud temperatures were generally in

the range -5 to -20oC.