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<br />Seeding began on the Ford County storro while the storm was in <br />the northwest corner of Meade county at 5:34 p.m.; the s@cond plane <br />began at 5:42 p.m. Cloud tops grew to around 65,000 feet and iarge <br />hail was indicated on radar at 5:49 p.m. The third plane joined <br />seeding at 5:54 p.m. and the cloud top aircraft at 6:02 p.m.---a <br />short-lived flight. Extreme turbulence was experienced by the cloud <br />top plane at 6:25 p.m. while seeding the line. The severity of the <br />turbulence caused bending or the aircraft elevator, forcing it to <br />stick in one position, thereby.rendering it totally unusable for <br />maneuvering the plane. Fortunately, the pilot, Kyle Spencer and co- <br />pilot, Ben Granberg, were able to safely descend and land. That <br />plane was out of service the remainder of the week. The pilot of <br />the fourth clOUd base plane identified a severe storm near Copeland <br />{SW Gray County} and oegan seeding there at 7:05 p.m. s~ding the <br />Ford storm at cloud baae continued as it moved northerly through <br />western and central Ford County into Hodgeman. Seeding ended on the <br />Ford storm at 7:08 p.m. with the other aircraft going to southern <br />Gray.County to assist in seeding a developing NW-SE line building <br />f~om 5vuthaaat Saekell and southwest qrRv to the northwest toward <br />Lakin. Seeding was performed alons the line as it moved northerly. <br />One -particularlY severe storm developed in the line south of <br />Deerfield, traveling north up tne Kearny/Finney county line <br />producing hail along lts path. Initially} it was difficult to seed <br />at clOUd hage and probably would have been easily seedable by the <br />cloud top aircraft had it been operational at the time. <br /> <br />Eventually, new growth on thQ line of storms extended to near <br />Tribune and the line took on a more E~W shape. Simultaneously, a <br />NNE-8SW line of storms, ~oving eastward from northeast Colorado, <br />soon converged with the seeded storm in southwestern Wichita <br />County. The convergence did not appear to intensify into anything <br />more severe and, in fact, the old seeded line began collapsing into <br />non-severe thunderstorms and rainshowers shortly afterward. Some <br />seeding was performed on an iSolated part of the NNE-SSW line of <br />storms moving across Greeley County as it met the E-W oriented line <br />in southern Wichita County. Aircraft flights were terminated <br />beginning at 9:16 p.m.; the last flight at 9:40 ~.rn. Total flight <br />time was 19.3 hours. <br /> <br />JULY 4th - OPERATIONAL DAY #27: At 6:55 p.m. two planes were <br />scr.ambled for seeding within a north~south oriented line of cells <br />along the Kansas-Colorado state line from near Towner, Colorado, to <br />near Boise City, Oklahoma. Altholtgh cloud tops were in the mid~ <br />40,000 foot range, storm intensities were generally weak. The <br />remaining two planes were scrambled at 7:06 p.m. Seeding began in <br />the northwestern corner of Stanton County at 7:38 p.m. where an <br />indication of hail was observed briefly on radar at 7:46 p.m. Cloud <br />updrafts became generally weaker and rain stimulation continued <br />from 8:05 p.m. onward. Aircraft flights were terminated beginning <br />at 8:12 p.m. with the final flight being canceled at 8:28 p.m. <br />Total flight time on this o?eration was 5.2 hours. <br /> <br />~;J <br /> <br /> <br />Curtis o. smith <br />Program Manl'.Qer, <br />Western Kansas weather Modification <br />