A cloud seeding program has started this winter in the mountains of southern Wyoming and could soon be pursued in Colorado. Both states already seed clouds from land-based towers, but now has begun using aircraft. In November, Wyoming started using small airplanes to spread silver iodide into snowstorms that roll into the Medicine Bow mountains, north of the Colorado-Wyoming border. North Dakota-based Weather Modification Inc. has seeded clouds over southern Wyoming four times now. Wyoming also oversees cloud seeding towers in the Wind River mountains, which are partially paid for by water agencies in Arizona, California and Nevada. While some studies indicate cloud seeding can marginally increase snowpack, a 2018 study from researchers at the University of Wyoming and the University of Colorado said big questions still remain regarding the practice’s effectiveness.
