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<br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />.' <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br /> <br />2.6 Cloud Seeding Project Design <br /> <br />It was concluded from the analyses, and based upon North American Weather <br />Consultants' previous experience in designing and conducting similar winter orographic <br />cloud seeding projects in other areas, that a program utilizing ground based silver iodide <br />generators is feasible in Gunnison County. It was estimated that such a program can be <br />expected to produce an average 10-20% increase in precipitation in the higher elevations <br />of Gunnison County during operational periods. These statements are based upon the <br />following considerations: <br /> <br />. There are significant high elevation mountain barriers within Gunnison County <br />which will produce substantial orographic lift of lower level atmospheric moisture <br />during the passage of winter storms through the area. This lifting will produce <br />frequent and sustained periods of supercooled liquid water (water droplets in <br />clouds that occur at temperatures colder than freezing) occurrences on the upwind <br />slopes of these mountain barriers. The presence of supercooled cloud water <br />droplets is a necessary ingredient for clouds to be seedable. <br /> <br />. The supercooled liquid water droplets can be seeded usmg silver iodide to <br />enhance the precipitation process in select periods during winter storm passages <br />through the target area. <br /> <br />. The heights of the mountain barriers in Gunnison County are very favorable for <br />seeding, given the activity temperature threshold of the silver iodide seeding <br />material and the normal vertical structure of the atmosphere during winter storms. <br /> <br />. Typical winter storm temperatures favor the use of manually operated, ground- <br /> <br />based silver iodide generators which are comparatively inexpensive to operate. <br /> <br />. Many prospective locations for siting of these generators appear to be available. <br /> <br />20 <br />