WSPC07673

• File Number: 8200.700
• Description: Colorado River Basin General Publications - Augmentation-Weather Modification
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 2/27/1978
• Title: Colorado Emergency Weather Modification Program - 1977-1978 Water Year
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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003303

Durango receives Circuit "A" service providing hourly observations which

include cloud coverage, height (s), temperature, dewpoint, wind, surface

pressure, precipitation, and remarks on conditions in the general vicinity

from 20-observation points in Colorado and data from surrounding states.

They also receive upper air observations from the National Weather

Service sites in Grand Junction and Denver. These sites take upper air

observations at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. Supplemental upper air observations

from sites at Craig and Durango (see Fig. 2 and 3) are provided to the

commercial firms a part of the state weather modification program.

Observations from these sites can be taken as required by the program.

A summary of the number of upper air observations taken through September

15 can be found in Table 1.

.Some of the observations are also being used for research and for

the assessment of results being done by CSU.

December 77

January 78

February 78

Total

Craig
operations
research

33
o

43
6

9
14

85
20

Durango
operations
research

o
o

9
o

25
o

34
o

Total

139

TABLE 1

Upper Air Observations Summary

All of the meteorological information is then used to decide whether

or not seeding operations should be carried out based on a set of meteoro-

logical seeding criteria. These criteria are specifically outlined in the

contracts and are listed here in Table 2. Additional meteorological in-

formation such as the presence of higher level clouds, low-level inversions,

18