10/24/08 Cloud seeding, part 2

For a second year in a row several eastern Idaho counties, cities and irrigators have banded together to pay for cloud seeding in an attempt to produce more rain and snow. Fremont County Commissioner Paul Romrell is the chairman of the cloud seeding committee. ROMRELL " We have generators five in Clark County, five in Fremont, five in Teton, four in Bonneville and one or two in Bingham." And this year three remote generators are being added thanks to an Idaho Power contribution. Romrell says North American Weather Consultants studied last year's clouding seeding effort to see if it increased precipitation. ROMRELL "Each drainage had a little different percentage value. The Willow Creek east of Idaho Falls drainage had a seven percent increase. I would guess the average was somewhere around five percent." When the weather patterns are right beginning next month the propane powered generators will seed the clouds with silver iodide chemicals in an effort to put more acre feet of water into storage next spring. There may also be an effort to seek state funding from the legislature to pay for the weather modification program. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott