2010 Seeding Recap

The conclusion of the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District’s 2008 Precipitation Enhancement Program marked the ninth year of cloud seeding in the Texas Panhandle. This season began with the first mission on April 23^rd and concluded on September 5^th with the last mission. Typically, the season runs from April 15th until September 30th; however, if suitable opportunities are present before the 15th the season will commence.

           
The 2008 seeding season contained 23 days with seeding events, which consisted of 26 seeding missions and six reconnaissance missions. This season had the least amount of seeding days since 2000 which had only 22 days of seeding. This year we seeded 15 less days and 33 fewer clouds than in 2007, which can be attributed to very few seeding opportunities through the summer. Each month contributed its own factor for fewer seeding conditions.

           
During April, the Texas Panhandle experienced many cold fronts, warm fronts, trough passages and dry lines; however, the missing ingredient for convection was moisture. May was characterized by stratus clouds with little to no convection, and concluded with a few dry line events that the National Weather Service (NWS) issued severe thunderstorm warnings on. In the beginning of June much of the precipitation favored the eastern Texas Panhandle; however, at the end of June the pattern changed. During most days precipitation formed off the mountains with a trough and upper-level shortwave being the focus for initiation. This precipitation moved southeast across the western counties in the Texas Panhandle. All of the seeding missions were cut short due to NWS severe thunderstorm warnings. July was dominated by high pressure, but the weather that did occur was due to normal summer daytime heating with the combination of some mid-level dynamics to create scattered afternoon thunderstorms. All of the weather systems that moved through the area during August were dominated by slow-moving, heavy rainfall thunderstorms. Therefore, some seeding missions were ended due to flash flood warning issued by the NWS. All of the rain in September occurred on or before the 12^th due to three cold fronts and a stationary front, and the rest of the month was characterized by high pressure. In combination with the months changing weather patterns, we also saw more continental clouds this year that consisted of smaller than normal volumes of super-cooled water, which also affected our seeding results.

           
Below is a chart that shows the number of seeding and reconnaissance missions, flares used, and time flown during the 2008 seeding season.

Month	# Seeding Flights	# Recon Flights	Hours Flown (H:M)	Flares Used
April	1	1	3:44	8
May	3	2	8:30	21
June	5	1	13:10	54
July	6	0	16:55	53
August	10	2	23:55	95
September	1	0	1:45	7
Totals	26	6	67:59	238