Cloud Seeding

To help guide cloud seeding operations in Utah, the Utah Climate Center runs a Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and displays output from the model simulation on this site. Vertical distributions of temperature and supercooled liquid water (SLW) over several mountain ranges in Utah are shown because these atmospheric variables are critical to the decision of whether to seed the clouds. The vertical profiles of these two atmospheric variables are forecasted for 84-hours. The solid lines in the left panel (map) show the selected cross-section location and the right panel shows the forecast of vertical profile of SLW (color filled), temperature (solid lines) and potential temperature (dashed lines). The forecast of these variables is useful for the meteorologists who make the cloud seeding decision checking the right temperature (-5°C ) and available SLW at or below the mountain top level. This project is funded by the Utah Division of Water Resources and Lower Colorado River Basin States.