Sierra Cloud Seeding This Winter

[maverick]

Interested in seeing how much snow they will be able to generate with this.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/11/589898 ... gical.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RoguePhotonic]

I don't like when they mess with nature. We'll see how much damage they cause!

The article is written funny. Cloud seeding has been around for more than 50 years yet they talk about it like it's something new.

[Rockchucker]

Don't drink the silver snow!! DWP seed here on the eastern side every year.

[LMBSGV]

Homo sapiens’ attempts to control nature instead of modifying our behavior to better adapt to nature may ultimately destroy us.

[dave54]

Manufacturer Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are required to be completed for every chemical according to strict EPA guidelines and made available to the public.

Here's one for silver iodide:

a key manufacturer of silver iodide for weather modification, Deepwater Chemicals, warns of potential health effects of silver iodide in their Material Safety Data Sheet as follows:

Chronic Exposure/Target Organs: Chronic ingestion of iodides may produce “iodism”, which may be manifested by skin rash, running nose, headache and irritation of the mucous membranes. Weakness, anemia, loss of weight and general depression may also occur. Chronic inhalation or ingestion may cause argyria characterized by blue-gray discoloration of the eyes, skin and mucous membranes. Chronic skin contact may cause permanent discoloration of the skin.(10)

Under the guidelines of the Clean Water Act by the EPA, silver iodide is considered a hazardous substance, a priority pollutant, and as a toxic pollutant.(10).

Given the concentrations likely to be found in rain water and runoff from seeding, I doubt anyone will immediately get sick. The unknown is the effects of chronic ingestion over decades.
There is ample research on acute exposures both low and high. Almost no research on chronic low exposures.

Cigarettes, DDT and thalidomide were once thought safe also.

It may be the benefits of seeding outweigh the risks, or it may not. No one really knows yet.

[rlown]

still need the right conditions. not seeing it yet. I think we're screwed for a while.

[RoguePhotonic]

Every time I am around seeding it rains like I have never seen before. I'd be worried about the same with snow causing massive avalanches and people getting caught in the storms and getting killed.

[Wandering Daisy]

Cloud seeding has been subject to law suits from states that are downwind. They claim that it sucks more than the upwind state's fair share out of the atmosphere, depleting the probability of rain in their area.

I am not sure cloud seeding has consistently been very effective. Air pollution also puts particulates in the atmosphere - a doubly bad way to seed clouds. It makes more sense to seed clouds at the end of a wet cycle to build up the snowpack as storage and to develop more storage for wet year runoff.

Worldwide, there is plenty of water. It is just not in the "right" place to sustain growing populations in arid regions. Water seems always to be a matter of "too much" or "too little". Feast or famine.