Good moisture

[grassfarmer]

We got hit by a big thunderstorm this evening - 3/4 inch in 3/4 of an hour. That's two inches of rain in May which I suppose compensates for zero precipitation in April. This is a strange weather pattern isn't it? With that heat we've had the grass is jumping - I think we will have cows onto new grass by the weekend - well ahead of the last 4 years.

[cakadu]

Great to hear that someone is getting the moisture grassfarmer. I wish we could get some. The storm went around us again - same old story - cloud seeding. We barely got the rain gauge wet.

Still, it could be worse though - I was talking with a friend down by Strathmore and he was telling me that they have nothing and he is still having to buy feed. Not a good situation.

We will hold our breath until tomorrow when the rain might come here.

[cakadu]

nice gentle rain here this evening. Cows are on grass and don't want to eat hay anymore, although I do pen them up for a few hours each day and make them eat it.

[cakadu]

What a difference a good nights sleep makes. The rain woke me up in the night and when I went out to check the rain gauge, there was about 8/10ths of an inch in it. Thank goodness for that as we needed the moisture badly.

I'm looking forward to the greening of everything and the grass growing. The sheep will really enjoy that.

[grassfarmer]

It's a good wet day again here Cakadu, makes me feel right at home. Another 3/4 an inch overnight and this morning.
I'm still confused with this cloud seeding issue though. The thunderstorm that hit us last night was tracking SW to NE - it hit Rimbey and later Camrose. Wouldn't that be the storm that passed you too? If so why would they cloud seed it south of Highway 54 as it was only going to cross predominantly farmland on it's path?

[grassfarmer]

8/10ths here so far this morning. Nice gentle rain with some wind, cool enough to light the fireplace, maybe I can stay inside and get some book work done.

[cakadu]

Grassfarmer I am actually north of highway #54 and Raven is sort of bordering the highway. In recent years if there is a storm of any strength at all, they will be out there seeding it. I have no idea what the actual criteria are for seeding and what parameters the storm must fall in. All I do know is that since Pine Lake happened, they have been seeding with an absolute vengence. The eastbound storm that collided with the northbound storm blew right over top of us and was packing some really nasty stuff with it even at that time. Then about 2 weeks after that, we had another storm go through that was absolutely wicked - hail the size of golf balls and hardballs in some cases and about 1.5 inches of rain in less than 45 minutes. We had horrible damage from it in this area, so since then they have been quite vigilant about doing the seeding.

Maybe they weren't out the other night when the storm went through - it did sound like the plane though. You do raise a very interesting point though and it would be advantageous to get the reason they do it in this area to the degree that they do. I wonder if it might have something to do with the dam? Quite often we can see the storms track around the dam. Wish we could get an explanation because as silvercloud (I think that's who it was) brought up, we can get hail coverage, but with a lack of water there is no coverage for that.

Talked with a friend by the Irricana area and he said that they got enough out of the storm system to settle the dust for a couple of hours so it sounds like it is fairly dry down there.

[grassfarmer]

I spoke to a friend west of Airdrie this morning, they had just got 1/2 inch of rain - their first precipitation since March 1st !! That must be something of a record surely?
I really don't know anything about the storm seeding but it is something I would like to find out more about.

[grassfarmer]

And Sasakatchewan got rain all during the Queen's visit, she didn't look like it bothered her any, and the farmers were happy .

[InAHurry]

Drier than a popcorn f**t down here in SW Sask.... and WINDY!
Glad to hear the rest of you got a little bit though.

[InAHurry]

The weather is still unsettled here. Thunder last night and a light shower for about half an hour, but it looks clear out this morning. Hope your part of Sask. gets some moisture Inahurry.

[cakadu]

We watched the thunder and lightning as two separate storms went around us and by each of the lakes. At the first sign of the first storm they were out seeding and the storm tracked around Gleniffer Lake. The second storm went to the north and around Sylvan Lake, so consequently we didn't even get enough moisture to make the ground wet.

The rain we got earlier in the week has really greened things up in the last couple of days, so it is wonderful to watch the pasture coming along. Maybe this year we will actually start to see some results from trying to graze sustainably.

[cowman]

So who is it seeding these storms? Is it the government footing the bill or is it private insurance companies?
What are they using to seed these clouds? Is it safe? I mean it must be coming down on someone somewhere, right?

[cakadu]

That's the problem cowman, we are told next to nothing about what happens with the cloud seeding. It is for sure the insurance companies that are paying for it because they stand to loose the most if - God forbid - a major storm happens.

As the general public, we actually have the right to be told about the process, but have any of you ever seen a news article, program or even a sound bite on what cloud seeding is all about, why it is continued to be practiced and what the possible benefits are? Grassfarmer came up with one information source and I spent quite some time on the Environment Canada website looking for more than just a smattering of information.

Personally, I would like to find out more about it because it happens in our area on a regular basis.

It's interesting to note that cloud seeding can also be used to precipitate rain, but it certainly hasn't been used in the last few years to bring rain to any drought-striken areas - at least not that I'm aware of anyway. About the only time it is used is to try and move the hazards to presumably less populated areas, but that doesn't always seem to work either, based on what we've seen. Look at the terrible storms both Edmonton and Calgary got last summer that caused millions of dollars in damage.

[cakadu]

Linda, why don't you speak to PAMZ, they may know a significant amount about the practice because they likely have very sophisticated weather stations where their air quality monitoring stations are located.