I got to thinking the other about what a friend told me about the weather.
He stated: "Jack, did you know that the weather forecasters are predicting one of the hottest summers on record for South Texas?"
He then went on to inform me that we may be facing 110-118 Degree F days in July and August. Boys, that's hot…matter of fact to put it in perspective, the stress that kind of heat puts on the human body is incredible. You can die in that kind of heat. Just ask a returning Veteran from Afghanistan or Iraq.
I also got to thinking about the big bass tournament that was held down in Zapata a week or so back and what that would mean to the local economy if it were properly promoted.
Let's hope we are electing the kind of City Councilmen that will do just that…promote Bass Fishing, Birding, & the Great Laredo Culture in General…you know…where the mariachis don't necessarily sing for breakfast.(I wrote a song with that line in it by the way…I'll have to dig it out and play it for you one day.)…
But back to the weather…what came to mind is this; last year we had one of the wettest summers on record and it sure gave a boost to the Zapata fishery. I know there are several different theories on weather patterns in arid climates, so I thought we'd take a gander at a few and see if we could make sense out of any of the research out there.
When we began researching, we looked at half a dozen different ideas that have been kicked around, some that we have had a great deal of skepticism with in the past, and others that could be maybes, and few that look like sure things.
I recall reading some time back that Louis Bruni had thought that cloud seeding theories held potential for South Texas and perhaps we had ought to take a look at them. What made me chuckle at the time was not the idea of Bruni seeding clouds, but something else…something deep in my conscious that I had recalled reading as a young man way back in the stone ages of high-school.
There was a book that I recalled having read that just fascinated me at the time called Everyman a Millionaire by David Dunham written in 1937. It was filled with chapter after chapter of these grand ideas about how this forward thinking gentleman became a millionaire by applying such ideas as cloud seeding and other revolutionary scientific ideas that would have been quite extraordinary at the time.
What I tend to know now that I did not know then is this…if someone is writing about it, most likely it has in fact been done or at least the theories have been thoroughly studied.
The CIA had an airplane back in the 1960s that the rest of the world might have mistaken for a UFO. We now know it was the Blackbird, or SR-71…a photographic spy plane that flies so fast that you could not put a weapons system on it because it would outrun its own missiles. Having served in the Air Force, I became aware of it back in 1981 when it was still in use. It has sense been retired…I suppose due to the sophistication of our current satellites and the age and cost of the planes.
My point here is this. Much of the best scientific research was done years ago, and we are currently benefiting from these ideas. That led me to ask the question: Is there anything behind this idea about cloud seeding?
What I found out nearly spun my head around…for not only was there great research available on it, but it turns out that while private skeptics abound, The US Government and the State of Texas and other states have spent millions of dollars doing ground breaking research and have begun harvesting results.
That's not all…the State of Texas has a website dedicated to nothing but this research and the projects that have been funded to date.
Now here is the real kicker. Louis Bruni ain't bulls&h^%ing the public after all. Gee…sorry Mr. Bruni, I take back all the fun I poked at the idea. Looks like you might be having the last laugh on all the skeptics out there.
OK…Jack, you can kiss Louis's a$& later…now show us the research and just what all this ballyhoo is all about.
Well how about let's start with introducing you to all the projects and organizations that are currently involved in these operations:
Colorado River Municipal Water District (CRMWD)
The rain enhancement project based in Big Spring and maintained by the CRMWD is distinguished as one of the oldest weather modification operations in the world. The District has been seeding clouds within a 2.45 million acre area, almost uninterruptedly, since 1970. The District owns its own aircraft, and its meteorologist uses a C-band weather radar system to direct its pilots to appropriate convective towers when the potential for cloud, and rain, enhancement is deemed feasible. All of the seeding done by this organization is from below cloud base.
Seeding by the District is designed to augment rainfall from thunderstorms roaming within the watersheds of two reservoirs on the upper Colorado River of Texas (J. B. Thomas and E. V. Spence). The target area, where the effects of seeding are intended to occur, is bounded by the cities of Lamesa, Big Spring, Snyder, and Sweetwater. More information about this project is available from the CRWMD in Big Spring (325-267-6341; www.crmwd.
org/wxmod.htm).
West Texas Weather Modification Association (WTWMA)
This project, based in San Angelo, is in its ninth consecutive year of operation. Its target is the third largest in the state---some 6.4 million acres in west central Texas between Midland and San Angelo. Like the CRMWD, the WTWMA employs a full-time meteorologist and pilots using Doppler weather radar data produced by the National Weather Service. The meteorologist is based at Mathis Field, while aircraft are located at the San Angelo airport as well as several other locations within the target area.
The project is one of two in the state with a dual purpose: Permits are held by the WTWMA for both rain enhancement and hail suppression operations. The way in which the Association obtained its aircraft and radar, and hired its permanent staff, in 1997-98, to become self-contained as a project served as a prototype for other rain enhancement programs that materialized in Texas later on. The staff of the WTWMA can provide more information about this project (325-949-1950; www.wtwma.com).
South Texas Weather Modification Association (STWMA)
The project with its base of operations in Pleasanton (south of San Antonio) is in its eighth year of operation, having been established in 1997 to seed clouds over a target area extending from the base of the Edwards Plateau to near the coastal bend area of Texas. The STWMA is an alliance of two water districts (Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District and the Live Oak Underground Water Conservation District) and a county commission. Seeding activities are directed by a staff meteorologist working with National Weather Service Doppler weather radar data from the airport in Pleasanton. Because the STWMA has ownership of all of the resources (technical and human) needed to execute rain enhancement operations at any time, the weather modification project runs on a year-round basis.
In 2002 the STWMA expanded its target area to absorb three of the counties previously in the cloud seeding target area of the rain enhancement program of the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA). The EAA reduced the size of its target area (now the primary drainage area for the Edwards Aquifer) and enlisted existing rain enhancement projects based in Pleasanton and Carrizo Springs to provide aerial and technical coverage for its newly-redefined target. As a result, the target area of the STWMA expanded by some 2.2 million acres, to the current 6.6 million, making it the state's largest weather modification target. The EAA contracts with the STWMA for cloud seeding services in Bandera, Bexar, and Medina counties. More information on this project can be obtained by contacting the STWMA staff (830/569-4186; http://www.southtexas
weathermodification.com).
Seeding Operations and Atmospheric Research (SOAR) Program
The only rain enhancement project to have direct interface with interests in New Mexico is the SOAR project, based in Plains and operated by the Sandy Land Underground Water Conservation District (SLUWCD). Gaines, Terry, and Yoakum counties make up the Texas portion of the bi-state project, which encompasses some 2 million acres in eastern New Mexico as well as 3.8 million in Texas. Two of the counties (Terry and Yoakum) have had cloud seeding since the establishment of a program, in 1997, by the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1. Terry and Yoakum counties were a part of the 15-county HPUWCD weather modification project for five years until they formed the nucleus of the SOAR project in 2002.
Seeding activities for both areas of Texas and New Mexico are directed by a SOAR meteorologist based in Plains, where the aircraft are also headquartered. More information about the SOAR Program can be obtained by contacting the SLUWCD staff (806/456-2155; www.sandylandwater.com/soar.htm).
Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA)
The EAA first initiated its own rain enhancement effort in 1998, using an out-of-state contractor for seeding operations based in Hondo. Since its inception, the aim of the project has been to put additional water on the ground, and into the aquifer that is the sole source of water for several million people living in South Central Texas, including the metropolis of San Antonio. After four years of contracted services, the EAA in 2003 assigned portions of its "old" target area to two well-established and independently-run cloud seeding projects nearby. Since then, three of the counties in its redefined target have been served by the South Texas Weather Modification Association, while a fourth county (Uvalde) has been included in the target of the Southwest Texas Rain Enhancement Association (based in Carrizo Springs). The EAA office in San Antonio (800/292-1047; www.edwardsaquifer.org) can supply more information about its rain enhancement effort.
Southwest Texas Rain Enhancement Association (SWTREA)
The project begun in 1999 and run by the Wintergarden Groundwater Conservation District, based in Carrizo Springs, was the first of the nine existing weather modification projects to diversify into the suppression of hail. The SWTREA is an association of counties (Dimmit, LaSalle, Uvalde, Webb) which was expanded in 2002 to absorb Uvalde County, previously in the EAA target area. Today, its target area is the second largest of all of the Texas projects---some 6.5 million acres. It is the first hail suppression project in Texas to use aircraft for seeding thunderstorms since hail suppression activities in the Texas South Plains ended in 1977. The SWTREA maintains a staff operating out of the Pleasanton airport, where its meteorologist directs seeding operations using National Weather Service Doppler radar data and aircraft based out of Carrizo Springs. The SWTREA staff (830/281-3888; www.swtrea.org) is the contact for more information on this project.
North Plains Groundwater Conservation District (NPGWCD)
The program of this northernmost water district in the Texas Panhandle became operational in May 2000, with the completion of new radar and aircraft facilities in Dumas. It was the first rain enhancement project to be constructed at the outset, using aircraft, equipment, and personnel obtained and owned by the sponsoring entity. (All other projects in Texas used contractor services in the initial years to establish their rain enhancement programs.)
The District's target area, of some 4.2 million acres, includes virtually all of the northernmost tier of Panhandle counties, as well as parts of Hartley, Moore, and Hutchinson counties. Through the TDLR, arrangements are in place to allow the NPGWCD aircraft to conduct seeding operations over the Oklahoma Panhandle, in order to treat promising rain systems moving out of Oklahoma into Texas. (In the same way, the State of Oklahoma is entitled to seed cloud systems in Texas that are deemed to be moving into Oklahoma.) The staff of the NPGWCD (806/935-6401; www.npgd.org) can provide more information about this 6-year-old project.
Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District (PGWCD)
A second large water district in the Panhandle region also conducts cloud seeding operations to enhance rainfall and, thus, augment groundwater recharge over the Ogallala Aquifer in the state's northern extremity. This project, after being served in its initial year by a contractor, followed the path taken by earlier projects in Texas and in 2001 procured its own aircraft, radar, office facility, and support personnel. Like its companion project to the west, the PGWCD project has access to cloud systems moving out of Oklahoma into its target area, which currently consists of nearly 4.1 million acres in the eastern sector of the Texas Panhandle. The staff of the PGWCD (806/883-2501; www.panhandlegroundwater.org
/precipitationenhancementprogram.htm ) can provide additional information about this project.
Trans Pecos Weather Modification Association (TPWMA)
Texas' newest rain enhancement project made its inaugural seeding flights in May 2003. The Association consists of the Ward County Irrigation District and other political subdivisions within Culberson, Loving, Reeves, and Ward counties. Its target area in that part of Texas along and west of the Pecos River consists of 5.1 million acres. TPWMA aircraft are based at the airport in Pecos, where a C-band radar is also situated. Seeding missions are directed by a staff meteorologist working from an office at Mathis Field in San Angelo. Additional information is available about this project through the Ward County Irrigation District in Barstow (432/445-6834; www.transpecosweathermodification.com).
Contact Information
Individuals, or organizations, representing areas of the state not now engaged in cloud seeding but with an interest in doing so should contact George Bomar (512/936-4313; e-mail: gbomar@license.state.tx.us) of the TDLR about any, and all, weather modification permitting and licensing matters or for general information about cloud seeding technology.
I suggest you pull up a few of these websites and have a look for yourself. You are in for a real surprise. This is serious business and cutting edge research. Texas has already put up over 11 Million Dollars worth of seed money to help these pilot programs get off the ground(pardon the puns).
Webb County apparently missed out on a few million bucks worth of project money by not allowing Bruni to go forward with his ideas. My hat is off to him. He was on to something as this research is gaining momentum and projects of this nature have picked up steam world wide.
One of the best website out there to learn about the technology is http://www.nawcinc.com/wmfaq.html which is the website for the North America Weather Consultants, Inc. which is the world's longest standing weather consulting company. There is a wealth of information on their website and is well worth a read. They have some great photos of projects that give you an idea of diverse the technology has become: http://www.nawcinc.com/photos.html
If you are still not convinced, read this excerpt from a recent article from China. Remember that the Chinese right now are about as forward thinking of a population as exists in the world. They are very clever and smart about the way they use modern technologies to push forward and make up for lost time under staunch Communist Rule. They didn't lay telephone lines…they simply put a cell phone in everyones hands…thinks of the billions of dollars they saved by letting the West work out all of the inventions…all they have to do is learn how to use them and apply them in appropriate situations…and let me tell you…they are doing a damned good job at it.
Put is this way…they bought IBM's personal computer division and renamed it their own brand Lenovo…did they have to waste billions of dollars like Bell labs and all the start-ups in Silicon Valley to get into the computer business…the obvious answer is no…they simply bought the technology.
Well folks…guess what they are up to now? You guessed it….CLOUD SEEDING? And if you don't think the Chinese are forward thinking people…take a look at the picture at the top of this article…that is Shanghai…hum…no wonder the mainstream news media never shows you images of it…our mainstream news media is covering for our mainstream businessmen and politicians that are most likely embarrassed at the beauty and architecture of Shanghai…as we haven't built anything to match it since the 1970s when Mahattan was redeveloped by Donald Trump.
Cloud seeding folks…yes…the Chinese are way ahead of us…they are doing it on a massive scale…"Cloud seeding helps alleviate drought".
By Wang Jian (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-07-24 00:23
Addressing water shortages
"The widespread use of this technology in northern China reflects the seriousness of the water shortage problem in this part of the country," Hu said.
The average annual rainfall in China's arid north is only 65 per cent of the world average, while per capita water resources in the region are only about 40 per cent of the world average.
One study reveals that northern China is hit by drought in 28 out of every 30 years, 11 of which see drought of severe proportions.
"The growth in population and the development of the economy has led to a high increase in demand for water. This, combined with severe drought, has led to water shortages, a fall in ground water levels and the frequent drying up of rivers, including the Yellow River," Hu said.
Meteorological officials said cloud seeding efforts to enhance rainfall are being used in drought-stricken northern China every time clouds amass.
Years of drought in North China have even sparked reports that some towns were complaining of other towns stealing their rain by seeding clouds as they passed.
"So co-operation in such cases is essential, and may require issuance of legislation regulating the legal aspects of cloud seeding," Hu said.
According to the CMA, China has already issued regulations on clouding seeding to promote co-operation between provinces and regions.
But up to now, only Beijing and Hebei Province have co-operated in carrying out cloud-seeding operations financed by the Beijing municipal government, which they have done twice since last year, according to a source in the Beijing Office of Artificial Weather Inducement.
Expensive or not? The seeding process requires the use of a weather radar system and an aircraft equipped with instruments for meteorological recording and seeding operation or artillery to fire the silver iodide shells. Qualified radar technicians, engineers, meteorologists and pilots are also necessary.
Cloud-seeding technology is generally considered an expensive process, so it can only be continued as a regular practice if it is efficient and effective.
However, Hu Zhijin, a cloud expert with the China Academy of Meteorological Sciences, says that "cloud seeding is cheaper than other methods that the government is implementing to solve the water shortage problem, such as the South-North Water Diversion project that will carry water from the Yangtze River basin to Beijing and the North."
"In one dry season only 2-3 million yuan (US$24,180 to 36,27) was needed to carry out the cloud seeding programmes," Hu said.
In short, one cubic metre of man-made rain costs 0.2 yuan (2 US cents), according to the statistics provided by Zhang Qiang." Forward thinking entrepreneurs often face the skepticism of lesser men due to a couple of things: One…what makes the lesser man less is the fact that he doesn't check the facts before offering up the criticism….(yes…ole Jack is guilty as charged on this one your honor)…and Two…Envy of someone else having a bright idea when you yourselves can't ever think one up…(this one I ain't guilty of because one thing I learned years ago is that envy of others will sour your grapes to the point of hopelessness…if you are not willing to encourage the ideas of others, you will most likely continue to be stuck at the bottom of the bucket.) And to that regard and having now literally read hundreds of pages of documents related to Cloud Seeding and Weather Modification I would like to say to Louis Bruni…keep at it…our hat is off to you here at The Laredo Chameleon…
…and like ole Jack always says…If it's good for the Chinese, then By Golly it's good enough for me!
- The Dissassociated Laredo Free Press