Hi,
How expensive is cloud seeding today? How effective is it.? Are the costs justified in terms of the costs onvolved? Below is an article from 2004 on cloud seeding in China. I look forward to your feedback
davidmich
It is cheap enough to be feasible. Alberta has serious hail issues costing hundreds of millions a year of insurance claims. An association of insurance companies and brokers runs something called the Alberta Hail Suppression Project. It is serviced by a company out of North Dakota that does this elsewhere as well.
The silver iodide is delivered as smoke from flares by Cessnas; we are not talking a huge amount of material being used. The major costs are probably more related to keeping two pilots and planes on stand-by and a bunch of techs and meteorologists operating a network of radar etc.
Our city is going to spend $50,000 a month for a grand total of $300,000 for six months worth. They say cloud seeding doesn’t make it rain, only that when it does, where they shoot the flares, it supposedly will give slightly more rain in those areas. Thus far, there is not any sufficient hard evidence it has made a hill of beans difference. They are still studying the data.
Our lake levels have dropped to a combined all time low record of 25%. With summer upon us, and evaporation going to be sending up millions of gallons a day on the hotter summer days, we’ll be lucky to make it till the end of the year.
Thank you all. Very helpful. Considering the amount of money that is poured into cloud seeding, it must be proving itself useful to some degree.
davidmich
Desperate citizens do desperate things, but I don’t think they have the science to back it up that it does work. People spend money on all sorts of worthless stuff that doesn’t work, so I wouldn’t go by that. The link in your OP mentions the US NAS (National Academy of Sciences), who after 30 years still haven’t found any conclusive proof that it works.
This particular group claimed we should get about 10% more rain from the areas they seeded in my hometown. From the local news reports have had various people going over the data, and still can’t find that it has done anything. Some are already calling for a halt to it all, and put the money elsewhere.
Next up, don’t be surprised if my backwoods town brings in the water dowsers next. They have already had a several years of having everybody put “Pray for Rain” signs in their yards.