Last week at the Inn & Spa at Loretto, the national Weather Modification Association held its annual meeting. A fresh pitcher of ice water and small bowl of hard candies graced each seat in the conference room, where an audience of approximately 50 men and one woman enthusiastically discussed the future of
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One question prevailed: When would official bodies—like the National Academy of Sciences, which last weighed in seven years ago—finally recognize that extensive research and practice have made cloud seeding a reality?
Sig Silber, president of the nonprofit New Mexico Weather Modification Association, says the conversation highlighted the convergence of cloud seeders, meteorologists and global warming experts. Silber hopes such collaboration will someday bring cloud seeding to New Mexico.
“New Mexico is the hole in the donut,” Silber says. Almost every surrounding state has a cloud-seeding program; New Mexico doesn’t. Silber’s working on it but, in the meantime, he’s happy the conference came to Santa Fe.
“We haven’t generated any rain yet, but we have generated plenty of tourist dollars for Santa Fe,” he says, laughing.
