A job that puts their heads in the clouds

Crew attempting to coax more snow to water Wyoming

Keith E. Domke, The (Riverton) Ranger

Published February 28, 2007 at midnight

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RIVERTON, Wyo. - On any given day, they hope to be pressed into duty.

Their mission? To help Fremont County and the state of Wyoming pull out of an extreme drought.

The husband-and-wife team of Jody and Erin Fischer, along with Jason Goehring and Brook Herridge, make up the foursome from Weather Modification Inc., based in Fargo, N.D., who have been stationed in Riverton since early January to conduct cloud-seeding missions.

In their Piper Cheyenne 2 airplane, pilot Jody Fischer and co-pilot Herridge fly over the Wind River Mountains in the hope of producing additional snowfall, which would increase the winter snowpack and improve the spring runoff.

They release chemicals into the clouds, hoping to produce a reaction that will create snow.

Erin Fischer is the data systems operator in the plane. She watches a computer screen as data is collected through a probe on the wing.

On the ground, Goehring is the project meteorologist. It's his responsibility to determine when the weather conditions are right.

"We're in year two of a five-year pilot program," Goehring said. "We're funded by the Wyoming Water Development Commission and our job is to increase the amount of snow that falls out of the clouds and onto the mountains."

The Wind River Basin is among the areas that have been hit hardest by the drought. Riverton received only 53 percent of average precipitation in 2006, according to the National Weather Service.

The Wyoming office of the Bureau of Reclamation predicted on Feb. 1 that the spring snowmelt runoff will be below average for all areas of the Bighorn River Basin.

According to Wyoming area BLM manager John Lawson, "The early predictions don't look good. With less snowpack, runoff also would be less. At this point, it doesn't look like we're going to get full recovery. But, we could still be OK if we get some heavy, wet, late snows.

"But regardless of what happens, we still should have an adequate water supply this year."

Jody Fischer said the goal of the cloud-seeding program is to increase the amount of snowpack about 10 to 20 percent.

"That may not sound like a lot, but more snow falling over the mountains means more snowpack," he said. "When that increased snowpack melts, it increases the streamflows and helps fill the reservoirs.

"This is a long-term tool to help manage water."

In addition to seeding by airplane, ground-based launches also can be used.

Both the ground-based and airborne cloud-seeding efforts use a silver iodide seeding agent contained in flares.

The seeding isn't done during intense storms that potentially already can produce heavy snows.

Under average conditions, seeding may be feasible six to 10 times per month, depending on conditions.

"The weather has to be just right," Goehring said. "I'm actually on call 2 4/7 until the end of the project on March 31."

Goehring determines when the time is right for the pilots and Erin Fischer to take flight by checking weather patterns and conditions.

When he gives the green light, the trio - sometimes with an analyst, scientist or technician joining them - takes off from Riverton Regional Airport and heads toward the clouds over the Wind River Mountains.

"When he tells us to go, we hop in the plane and take off for the clouds," Jody Fischer said.

"We're looking for super-cooled water, which is water already existing at below-freezing temperatures in the clouds. When we find the right conditions, we light the flares as we fly and drag them across the clouds. The process converts the water into snow and it falls.

"One way to say it is that we're getting the natural process going better and faster."

On the ground, five generators that basically attempt to do the same thing were operational earlier this month.

"They are deployed by the south end of the Wind Rivers," said Bruce Boe, director of meteorology at Weather Modifications. "They burn a solution that produces an ice-forming nucleus and then rely on the air flow over the mountains to spread and seed."

When the plane is airborne, Erin Fischer sits behind the pilots and monitors the action on the computer. She is not analyzing the data, but watching it and making sure all is going as it is supposed to.

"I look to make sure all the instruments are taking in the data," she said. "I verify everything is working. I archive the data and then send it to an analyst team.

"I'm the first check. I make sure all is well."

The collected data is sent the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, where it is checked and evaluated.

"They help us build a complete picture of what's happening," Boe said. "They analyze the data and compare it to data previously collected."

Jody Fischer, 31, earned an aviation degree at the University of North Dakota and served an internship at Weather Modification. That got him interested in the cloud-seeding program.

"I could be flying commercial jets," he said. "But I thought this would be a very cool job, and it is."

Erin, 24, met Jody in Fargo. She was attending the University of Minnesota at Moorehead at the time.

"The program looked interesting, so I got into the research end of it," Erin said. "I traveled to India with Jody on a project and actually learned how to do my job on the spot. It's great to be a part of something like this."

Herridge, 29, has been at WMI for three years, while Goehring, 27, has been a company meteorologist for two years.

"This crew here in Riverton is a dedicated group," Boe said. "They are a superb crew the best we have in Wyoming."

"It's awesome to be directly involved with the weather," Goehring said. "I'm not just forecasting. I'm actually doing something that makes a difference."

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