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<br />FINAL OPERATIONAL SEEDING SUMMARY REPORT <br /> <br />for the <br />SAN JUAN WEATHER MODIFICATION PROGRAM <br /> <br />WESTERN WEATHER CONSULTANTS, INC. submitted an application for a permit <br />to augment natural winter precipitation in the southwestern portion of the <br />San Juan Mountains. to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. on <br />August 19, 1983. The seeding areas requested for the operational 1983-1984 <br />winter snowpack augmentation program were the Animas, La Plata, Mancos and <br />Dolores River Drainages. This application was discussed at a public meeting <br />held on October 7, 1983, before David H. Getches, Executive Director and <br />Barbara Welles, Weather Modification Program Director, Colorado Department <br />of Natural Resources, at 1:30 p.m., Room 110, 1313 Sherman Street, Denver, <br />Colorado. Western Weather Consultants, Inc. was represented by Lawrence M. <br />Hjermstad. President. <br /> <br />WESTERN WEATHER CONSULTANTS, INC. received a Weather Modification Permit <br />Renewal for the drainages in the San Juan Mountains listed above, granted <br />effective November 15, 1983 and in force until March 31, 1984. One of the <br />stipulations of the permit was that no generator should be operated under <br />conditions when the plume might be. expected to reach Silverton, Colorado; other <br />stipulations related to seeded area boundaries, generator sites, the selection <br />of weather systems. suitable for seeding and program suspension criteria. <br /> <br />The program was operationally ready by November 15, 1983, with six ground- <br />based cloud nuclei generators in place to seed the southwestern San Juan target <br />area. All of the generators were manually operated and utilized silver iodide <br />as the nucleating agent. <br /> <br />The first seeding for the 1983-1984 winter season was initiated on Nov- <br />ember 24th; this was the only seeding event during November. During December <br />there were four seeding events with the last one ending on December 20th. <br />There were no seeding operations conducted during the last third of December <br />because of heavy natural snowfall in the San Juan Mountains. The Snow Survey <br />Unit of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) estimated that at the end of Dec- <br />ember, basin-wide snowpack statistics for the Dolores and Animas drainages <br />were 184 percent of average. This exceeded program suspension criteria; there- <br />fore, all seeding operations were suspended for January. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />During January, precipitation over most of southwestern Colorado averaged <br />less than half of the long-term average for the month. Estimates made by the <br />SCS Snow Survey Unit at the end of January indicated that basin~wide, the snow- <br />pack for the Dolores and Animas drainages were 144 percent of average. This <br />was slightly above the 140 percent suspension criteria set for the month of <br />February. The decision was subsequently made to place the San Juan program <br />in a stand-by mode for February and keep operations suspended. <br />