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<br />'C <br /> <br /> ,~~.;;~:{.~ ., <br />- <br />, <br />..~c , <br /> i. <br />I " <br /> l>. <br />I- 1\ <br />" -'. <br />.,,c.- <br /> <br />WESTERN KANSAS WEATHER <br />MODIFICATION PROGRAM <br /> <br />WEEKLY NEWSLETTER <br />96-24 <br /> <br />RECEIVED <br />OCT 0 2 1996 <br /> <br />, r <br />, , <br /> <br />... <br />t' <br />U <br /> <br />Colorado Waler <br />Conservation Board <br /> <br />FOR THE PERIOD SEPTEMBER 21 - SEPTEMBER 30, 1996 <br /> <br />General Interest: The Western ~ansas Weather .Mod~fication ~rogram <br />for 1996 came to an end September 30th. At th~s t~me we ant~cipate <br />beginning next year's season May 1st. <br /> <br />Over the past several years I remember saying a few times <br />something to the effect that a certain year was "unUElual". However, <br />I would have to rate this year as the most unusual vear of all,in <br />my past12 seasons here in .West:e:l1i nail5a$. ' <br /> <br />Not only did we have a complete 1S0-degree turnaround on the <br />amount of precipitation received, breaking th~ drought, but we also <br />set monthly operational seeding records in June and July. However, <br />the increased number of seeding days and above-average amount of <br />precipitation came with a cost:---increased numbers of severe atorms <br />which produced crop-damaging hail. Hail was much greater in western <br />Kansas than in other parts of the, state this year. Some of the <br />worst days came when we were unable to launch our cloud base planes <br />due to low cloud bases below which safe operation impossible; other <br />times, we experienced the perennial prOblem.. . having too many <br />severe storms relative to our total number of program aircraft. <br /> <br />One of the most exciting things to come along this summer came <br />late in the season. We began looking into the potential use of a <br />"new" flare, one which is truly hygroscopic and contains no silver <br />iodide. This flare can be used to increase rain and reduce hail. <br />Here in Western Kansas, probably the most exciting part is that an <br />entire new class of clouds will be available to us to seed to <br />increase precipitation to help uS better achieve our long-term goal <br />of reducing the stress on the Ogallala aquifer. By extension, it <br />could make dry-land farming here more viable as well. ~o tests have <br />been performed yet in Western Kansas, however, results from other <br />parts of the world, where it has been used, are very promising. <br /> <br />OPERATIONS: There were no operations in which cloud seeding was <br />performed. However, there were three observation flights made on <br />Tuesday, the 25th, to storms forming along a NE-SW oriented line <br />which crossed the southeastern corner of Ford county. It appears <br />the severe storms which formed in Ford county in late afternoon <br />reached hail intensity only after exiting the county northeast of <br />Bucklin. <br /> <br />P ~:t:-I J <br /> <br />~iS D. S 't <br />Program Man ger, <br />Western Kansas Weather MOdification <br /> <br />