Cloud Seeding in Alberta

[sumdumguy]

It’s really not my business but I just want to say that I find it rather ironic that the only province in Canada that uses cloud seeding to mitigate damage from hail storms is now grappling with huge damage from a recent hail storm. Westjet is cancelling flights due to the fact that at least 26 planes need repair because they were pelted by golf-size hail. Insurance companies are repairing homes and businesses. My point? Why weren’t the dangerous clouds precipitated out in the unpopulated areas? Just Wondering.

[goalieguy847]

Well i dont think that they can keep up... you could have many feeder clouds in a big a big storm and the plane may only be able to hit 3 or 4 of them...so its a bit of a guess. Plus i dont think the cloud seeding is meant to precipitate out, but rather, decrease the size of the hail itself ( hopefully). Plus, i believe it has 5 planes that cover a HUGE area... but one would think a storm coming into calgary would be main target....

its a non profit run by insurance companies.. so....

How much will westjets hail rider go up next yr? Hope they have production insurance.........

[Blaithin]

If I recall the seeders were riding both those storms quite hard. The north and the south one.

Who’s to say they didn’t mitigate damage. Unless you’re able to see into a parallel dimension to tell if the hail would have been smaller if it hadn’t been seeded and caused less damage, there’s no real way for a layman to tell.

Cloud seeding is to decrease damage, not eliminate it. 26 planes may have been a decrease.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Intention is to make more nuclei to start more hailstones much sooner which will then drop out sooner as many more but smaller hailstones. Sacrificing Farmers west of highway two.

As blaithin points out, there is no control group to prove that it does or does not have the desired effect and undesired side effect.