Trying More Weather Modification

Sill, Bruintjes and other scientists speaking April 22, at an international conference on weather modification in Westminster said there are possibilities for managing and modifying weather — from making rain to reducing the severity of hurricanes. What is needed, they said, is renewed federal backing of the research. "In terms of the stakes, I think we owe it to the taxpayers to give it our best shot," said Joseph Golden, a senior research scientist at the University of Colorado's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. Scientists are monitoring more than 150 weather-modification projects in 40 countries, including at least 60 in the Western United States. The projects include wringing additional snow out of clouds for California hydropower and easing droughts in sub-Saharan Africa.