" Republican River group works toward cooperation Wednesday, January 25, 2012 Connie Jo Discoe
(...) Weather modification
Meteorologist Walt Geiger of the Kansas Weather Modification Program, Scott City, Kansas, said the goal of the program is to reduce hail and optimize rainfall over most of western and southwestern Kansas. For 37 years, the cloud-seeding program has been used as a water management tool for groundwater management districts in Scott City and Garden City.
Geiger said technology is catching up with the concept of rain augmentation and hail suppression, and there is increasing and renewed interest in weather modification.
The three state corners of Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado -- especially northeast Colorado -- are highly susceptible to hail, Geiger said.
The objectives of the program are:
* Seed clouds while crops are being planted, grown and harvested.
* Decrease the occurrence of crop-damaging hail by seeding thunderstorms.
* Optimize rainfall by seeding selected clouds in the absence of severe weather.
But the program still relies on nature, Geiger said. "If a cloud is only capable of a trace (of rain), why bother?" he asked. "If a cloud's capable of a toad-strangler -- three inches -- that's significantly different.' (...)" http://www.google.de/imgres?client=opera&hs=F23&sa=X&channel=suggest&biw=1280&bih=913&tbm=isch&tbnid=zQPCDubfj8lnGM%3A&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mccookgazette.com%2Fstory%2F1808636.html&docid=yHb_RNy-O6HRLM&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mccookgazette.com%2Fphotos%2F16%2F08%2F21%2F1608215-S.jpg&w=150&h=145&ei=snDzUs7HDIvMtAai7oC4Bg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=1484&page=1&start=0&ndsp=32&ved=0CF0QrQMwAg
