Wyoming committee hears detailed scientific briefing on cloud seeding, operations and costs

CHEYENNE — Scientists and program managers told the Wyoming Legislature’s Agriculture, State & Public Lands & Water Resources Committee that cloud seeding can increase precipitation under certain conditions but that precise seasonal benefits remain uncertain, and that the state’s program faces funding constraints.

In a presentation spanning the program’s science, operations and environmental monitoring, Barry Lawrence, deputy director at the Wyoming Water Development Office, introduced speakers from the University of Wyoming, Heritage Environmental, the University of Wisconsin and the Utah Division of Water Resources. Dr. Jeff French of the University of Wyoming summarized the meteorological basis for winter “glaciogenic” cloud seeding and cautioned: “Cloud seeding does not create clouds out of clear sky.”

The presenters described how seeding agents such as silver iodide are intended to encourage ice formation in supercooled liquid clouds (clouds below freezing but composed largely of liquid droplets). French said research groups have moved beyond simple statistical comparisons to experiments that combine targeted observations and numerical modeling to link seeding inputs to physical changes in clouds. He cited the SNOWIE experiment (2017) and related…