WMOD00071

• Applicant: Western Weather Consultants
• Project Name: Vail Pass
• Date: 11/1/1984
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Application

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Cloud seeding, which is conducted by commercial operato~s, is a process of
injecting tiny nuclei (usually of silve~ iodide) into the atmosphere f~om
aircraft or ground-based gene~ato~s, to increase the abilit~ of clouds to
p~oduce snow. (Operators' indicate cloud seeding is most effective at highe~
elevations, and in ~ecent yea~s only ground-based gene~ators.have been used
in Colo~ado.) Cloud seeding is viewed by some ski a~eas as an inexpensive
means of gua~ding against the disast~ous economic consequences of ve~y low
snowfall.

Data

Aspen Mountain, Buttermilk, Coppe~ 1I0untain, Snowmass, Vail 'and Winter- Pa~k.
ski areas and Colorado Ski' Country USA p~ovided data' on skier visits. ahd
snow depth. These six ski areas were selected because they are among the.
largest ski a~eas in the state and some of them have sponsored winter cloud
seeding programs. "_ '.

lIethodolo~y .

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Multiple regression is used to estimate the association between skier visits
and early-season snow depth while controlling statistically for trends in
skier visits (historical inc~eases) and the effects of snow-mai.!ng on skie~
visits. _..'. .>..

Con~iitsions

Results of this study show that the relationship of skie~ visits to
ea~ly-season snow depth is quite st~ong at Aspen 1I0untair;, Buttermilk,
Snowmass and Vail but fai~l~ weak at Copper lIountain and wint~r Park.. Aspen
1I0untain, Buttermilk~ Snowmass and Vail primarily serve "destination" skie~s
who plan t~ips fai~ly fa~ -in advance and may cancel visits when word sp~eads
in ve~y d~y winte~s that snow conditions are poor. Copper 1I0untain and.
Winte~ Pa~k p~ima~ily se~ve "day" skiers.

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Conservative estimates of ~etail expenditures by additional skie~s in a
hypothetical d~y winte~ in which early=season snow depths are. augmented 15
pe~cent (to simulate possible. effects of cloud seeding) "range f~om about
$460;000 at' Winter Park to about $10 million at Vaii.The increase at Vail
is about. two percent of estimated 'ski-~elated expenditures in Colorado-
during the 1981-82 season. Based on the ~esults of this study, we conclude
that additional early-season snow in dry winters results in sizable influxes
of dolla~s into the economies of counties that host ski areas and into the
economies of surrounding counties.

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