cloud seeding...

raider

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is it still a thing???

a couple weeks ago i saw a small plane going into and out of a thunderhead and wondered - why the hell else... tonight had a storm heading right for williston then poof - gone...

thought i remember some legislation and a fight about it a few years ago and haven't kept up...

any knowledge here???
 


Allen

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It is still a real thing in parts of western ND. Look it up on the ND State Water Commission website and you will probably find lots of good into.
 

eyexer

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Yes it is. Very controversial. I don’t think you’ll be seeing it happening twelve months from now.
 

eyexer

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I live just a few miles in from the MT border. For the past seven years I’ve watched storm after storm come with dead aim at my place with much needed rain. The planes meet the storms at the state line. Those storms shrivel up and drop all their moisture before they even get ten miles in state to me.
 


WormWiggler

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I live just a few miles in from the MT border. For the past seven years I’ve watched storm after storm come with dead aim at my place with much needed rain. The planes meet the storms at the state line. Those storms shrivel up and drop all their moisture before they even get ten miles in state to me.

Do they seed every storm or can they discern storms / conditions that produce hail?
 

eyexer

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If it’s at least yellow on the radar they’re out there
 

raider

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same pattern coming tonight... we'll see what happens...
 

Brian Renville

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Yea I can't really make up my mind about this one yet, generally the area has been in a wet cycle since weather mod started(I think), then every time we get a dry couple of months folks start raising hell about it. I live 100 feet from the border and it sure seems like storms do split before they hit here. Some of the older folks do say it's always been like that for some reason, some say that sudden drop into the valley changes things a little then the storms start to recharge a dozen miles east. Radars are quite a bit better and now accessible to all of us now so maybe we are just seeing more of what was there before, or maybe there is something to this cloud seeding shutting down rain(the opposite of what it claims to be doing), or maybe after a year or two without it folks will find out they want it back. Shit idk.
 


raider

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same thing tonight - co in ki dink??? who knows...

who's writing the checks???

farmers???

Insurance companies???

inquiring minds want to know...
 

eyexer

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Taxpayers I think. Ward county is redirecting their money to other stuff
 

Whitetail56

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Does anyone know why they wouldn't want rain to fall seems stupid but there must be a reason behind it.
 


eyexer

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it's strictly about hail prevention. but it comes at a price. I believe there are only three counties in ND that allow it anymore. I have not seen where any counties that got rid of it are talking about bringing it back. When they perform this seeding it appears to suppress hail. But it also appears to cause these storms to dump all their moisture in a very short time thus preventing any of that moisture from being spread out over a broad range like they normally would. It's absolutely amazing to watch this. You can see these storms coming across montana for a very long time. Staying the same size or growing as they come across eastern MT. Soon as they hit the border they are seeded and by the time they hit my house, ten miles inside the border, the damn rain is done completely. Happens time after time. I watch the planes come out. I can see where they are seeding and I watch the radar. It's mind boggling how fast the storm dissipates and the rain disappears. This isn't a couple time fluke. I've been watching this very seriously for the past seven years. I never had a clue how effective this process is. What's crazy is you can watch the north end of these storms that stay up in Divide County continue on a dump rain for hours but the south part that hits williams county just dies off immediately.
 

NDSportsman

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Isn't cloud seeding supposed to increase rain and decrease hail? Why would the seeding make the storms disappear entirely? Doesn't make sense unless they are over doing it. But still a waste of money IMO.
 

WormWiggler

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Isn't cloud seeding supposed to increase rain and decrease hail? Why would the seeding make the storms disappear entirely? Doesn't make sense unless they are over doing it. But still a waste of money IMO.

Drove by a Holiday Express, once, probably.... but I think hail is when the rain drops get pulled back up, cooled, turn to ice then fall, the more times is cycles the bigger the hail. So if you intervene and stop the rain drops getting pulled back up, no hail. To answer your question, the mass of water vapor gets sent to the ground soon than mother nature had intended. Wonder if detailed rain amount over time would show that next to the border where the seeding is done have a higher rain totals?
 

eyexer

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There is an app you can get that shows plane flight. My son is a pilot. He can use that plane flight app in conjunction with his flight weather radar. He can lay it over top and watch exactly where the planes are flying in relation to the storm. Then you can just watch that storm fall apart right after they leave. It’s crazy to watch
 

wstnodak

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Whats that app eye? I have flightradar24 but haven't messed around with it yet.
 


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