SNOWIE - Advancing the Science of Cloud Seeding
A Transformational Approach to Winter Orographic Weather Modification Research
COURTESY OF Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
By Sarah A. Tessendorf | August 2, 2018
The potential for increasing water supply through technology such as cloud seeding is further explored in this article recently published in BAMS, authored by Sarah Tessendorf et al. Using recent advancements in instrumentation and computer modeling, the SNOWIE project (Seeded and Natural Orographic Wintertime Clouds: The Idaho Experiment) observed the microphysical response from seeding orographic clouds and addressed age-old questions about using cloud seeding to enhance precipitation.
The SNOWIE project was developed during a renaissance in cloud-seeding research in the western U.S. states, where much of their water and hydropower depends on snowmelt. Given ever-increasing demands on water supplies, water managers are turning toward alternative methods of maintaining supply in addition to common conservation methods. This means further research on cloud seeding will be that much more crucial in the future.
