Cloud seeding will continue this year in the Tahoe/Truckee River Basin, the Ruby Mountains and with one generator near Tuscarora, Nevada.

The Truckee River Fund accepted a proposal from DRI for $165,151 to fund the operation of five cloud-seeding generators in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) agreed to fund the operation of seven generators, six in the Ruby Mountains and one near Tuscarora.

For the Truckee River Basin, cloud-seeding has boosted water in the snowpack by an average of 18,000 acre-feet a year over the last 10 years. TMWA draws 85 percent of its water from the Truckee River. For the Humboldt River Basin, it means an average annual increase of 16,000 acre-feet of snow water.

The cloud seeding project uses silver iodide cloud-seeding generators that disperse ice-forming particles into clouds to boost the amount of snow produced by a storm.

Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA) established the Truckee River Fund in 2004, to support projects that protect and enhance water quality or water resources of the Truckee River, or its watershed.

Video Highlights

Related Information and News

• DRI Cloud Seeding Program Web Site: cloudseeding.dri.edu
• 10/26/09: Tahoe area cloud seeding program close to staying afloat
• 10/16/09: Las Vegas Review-Journal: CLOUD SEEDING: Funding avoids shutdown of decades-long program
• 9/23/09: Cloud Seeding to continue this year for Truckee River basin
• 8/31/09: Las Vegas Sun: Cloud seeding creates rain Northern Nevada needs, Las Vegas wants
• 8/27/09 NY Times: In the Pursuit of ‘Weather Modification’
• 8/17/09: AP Story on Cloud Seeding Goes National
• 8/16/09 North Lake Tahoe Bonanza: Tahoe snow-making stimulator program shuts down