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<br />0034u3 <br /> <br />PURroSE <br /> <br />The Weather Modification Program of the Colorado Department of <br />Natural Resources conducted this study to conpare the potential of cloud <br />seeding to enhance mountain snowpack in Colorado during dry, normal and wet <br />winters. The study was undertaken to help decide when seeding could be <br />most effective in augmenting Colorado's water supply. Its objective was to <br />determine if, as some scientists have speculated, fewer seedable storms and <br />lower percentage increases in snowpack are expected during dry winters than <br />during winters of average or above average precipitation. Assessment of <br />the relative effectiveness of seeding in dry and wet winters was desirable <br />because it is anticipated that seeding will be proposed as a method of <br />increasing mountain snowpack during future drought. <br /> <br />The study was funded by the Southwest Drought Research Program, <br />Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, a program of technical <br />and socioeconomic research pertinent to the future use of cloud seeding for <br />drought relief in Colorado, Arizona, utah, Oklahoma and Texas. <br /> <br />The role of weather modification in drought relief and the impact of <br />social responses to drought in Colorado are treated in the following two <br />sections. Discussions of the theory of winter cloud seeding, previous <br />field experiments in Colorado, potential benefits and disadvantages of <br />seeding and variability in Colorado's snowpack appear in Appendices A <br />through C. <br /> <br />WEATHER M:lDIFICATION AND DROUGHT RELIEF <br /> <br />Several authors have discussed potential roles <br />modification in drought relief. Their cOImllents are mainly <br />based more on opinion than on scientific evidence. <br /> <br />of weather <br />speculative, <br /> <br />4 <br />