WMOD00235

• Applicant: Western Kansas Groundwater Management
• Project Name: Cloud Seeding
• Date: 4/15/1986
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

IV. OPERATIONAL SUMMARY - 1986

The operations of the 1986 season have been listed in Table #1 as
well as being grapically displayed in Figures #5, #6, and 17. The
display quickly shows at a'glance for any date: (1) the crop hail
d2\rfI2:l.I;;le t la i rns (i I1S tanc es) ~ (2) t.hE' number' of f 1. i t;}ht.s, (~:) number cd
fli';Jt'.,t. hour's, (4) t.h~~ amoLlnt. of seedil1l.J t.il"l)e (hour'S)} (.5) lA'helher'
flying was for hail suppression, rainfall augmentation or a
combination of both, (6) the amount of silver iodide seeding agent
dispensed in grams, and (7) the amount of dry ice (C02) dispensed in
kilograms. .

As an e>::arnple lel'$ locI!-=: at. .J1-:l11(? 9t.h: Imri1ediat.ely, it. is seen it
is one of the days in which relatively higher hail damage occurred
(approximately 145 claims). Also, it is seen there were 8 flights
accounting for about 23 hours flight time---some of which was for
rainfall aU9fl',ent.at.ion 0.5 well as hail SL\pp\"'ession. Th~== 2\fHount. of
silver iodide dispensed was the greatest for any day of the
season---around 3,600 grams---plus another 60 kilograms of dry ice.
The total seeding time was around 13 hours, also very high for the
season.

The heaviest hail day was on May 13th, coincident with little
seeding activity. On this particular occasion no significant seeding
was initially performed as the. s,torm was non-forecasted, unexpected
ove,"'ni.ght. f~\ct.ivit.y which rnoved sout.hl?~a::}t. ~Cl"'OSS t.he ni)l"th\.'.'est. and
northern part of the target area before seeding could be effected. On
the brighter side, we saw many other cases in which there was hail but
comparativley less damage along with high seeding activity and
considerable flying. Such dates are: May 7,14,15; June
6,19,20,23,24,26; July 10,13,19,25; AUglJSt 4,S} 13, and September 10.

Operationally, 1986 broke many records. table 1, 1986 M01~thly
Activity Summary, and Appendix A, ~iistoric Project Activity Summary,
both present operational information. It is seen that there were 896
total flight hours this season (723 of whict, were for flights on which
some seedin';J '.1.'0.5 d()ne) B,nd 1,1:30 h()lA\"S of r'B.c1a\"' SU\"v1;:;~ill~~.nce ---bclth
records for the 1986 WKWM program. The total flight activity was
double any previous year and seeding time was over 20% more than the
most-ever previous year in 1978. Reasolls for the great increase in
flight time are pl"'imarily dLre to these factors: (1) 1986 was the first
year in which night flying at cloud base was adopted into its normal
operational activity, (2) "gang-up" seeding was performed on stol"ms as
much as possible, and (3) higher storm frequency,

Night flying at cloud base in sirlgle engine aircraft was never
seriously attempted on this progl~am priol~ to 1986 for various reasons.
Certainly, with the conclusion of this record SeaGOll of operatiollS
there should be no doubt that it is both feasible and safe to operate
the WKWM program aircraft at night. It ffi!JISt be further emphasized
that conducting operations at night requires a high degree of
vigilancel skill, and awareness on the f)art of both the pilots and
met.eo'''QIQgist..s; make no mi.str:\ke, c loud base st!\"?dinl,;::} at. niqht,. i'5
difficult 811d aircraft eal' get into trouble very quickly if all of the
teaMW01'k isn't functioning properly.

14