WMOD00079

• Contract/Permit #: #98-1
• Applicant: Western Kansas Groundwater
• Project Name: Kansas Weather Modification
• Date: 1/1/1998
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

IV. OPERATIONAL SUMMARY - 1998

Table 1, on the following page, summarizes relevant 1998 WKWMP operational flight and
seeding information plus all days upon which crop-hail insurance claims were reported. Each flight
was broken down into whether it was:

R...to increase Rain only

H...to reduce Hail only

C...a Combined flight, both to increase rain and reduce hail, or

O...an Observation flight---cloud examination only, no seeding was performed

Other pertinent information relating to operations are to be found in the back of this report
in the following appendices:

Appendix A - Historic Proj'ect Operational Activity Summary
(seeding and observation flights) .

Appendix B - Historic Monthly Number of seeding Days for Hail and/or Rain
Augmentation

Appendix C - Historic County Weather Modification Participation

Appendix D - NOAA Form 17 - 4A, Final Report on 1998 monthly seeding activities

,
With our second year of having nine seeding aircraft available, .we think we're getting closer
to have a slightly better cloud seeding picture develop. Climatology always plays a major role in any
year when it comes down to the kind of cloud seeding operations a season has---1998 was no
different. If the reader will recall, two seasons ago---in 1 996---we voiced the strong opinion that the
1996 type of storm season was an extreme, off-the-scale kind of year which may occur only once in
a generation. Nearly every statistic we compiled that year proved that point when they were compared
to similar data from earlier years and later years. Now, that we've finished a second season following
that 1996 peak, we're beginning to see more "normal" seasons once again. In 1998 there were 68
seeding days, whereas, in 1997 there were 74. June was a below average month for operations due
to the very dry, very much below average number of seeding days (10). However, July turned right
around and set an all-time high for the number of seeding days for any July since the program began;
it also tied for the most number of seeding days in anyone month since the program began in 1975
(25 days).

Most statistics feU below last year's levels due to fewer seeding days, however, seeding time
increased almost 38% over 1997 reflecting the greater amount of rainfall stimulation attempts this
summer compared to other years. Nearly 78,000 minutes of seeding were performed compared to

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