Weather Modification
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All individuals and organizations intending to conduct weather modification activities are required to obtain a weather modification license and permit from the TDLR. Read More
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Advisory Committee Meetings
August 21, 2023
The Weather Modification Advisory Committee met August 21, 2023 via videoconference. The meeting was archived and is available on TDLR's YouTube channel. Sharing of pre-recorded audio or video is not allowed during the public comment period. The agenda and staff reports are available online.
About Weather Modification
Weather Modification - Weather Modification – Focused efforts to produce additional rainfall using cloud seeding are widespread in much of West and South Texas during the growing season, which extends from early spring until autumn each year. In fact, areas where cloud seeding is concentrated covers about one-sixth of the land area of Texas. The seeding is done primarily for rainfall enhancement using aircraft and sophisticated weather radar data. Decisions to deploy aircraft and disperse seeding materials (both silver iodide and salts) are made by trained meteorologists licensed by TDLR specifically for weather modification. Aircraft are based at airports in various locations within the “target” areas of these projects, i.e. where the impact of seeding (more rainfall from thunderstorms) is intended.
TDLR’s weather modification program issues licenses and permits for these projects, almost all of which have been in operation for 20 years or longer. The licenses attest to the credentials and experience of the meteorologists who direct the seeding operations, while the permits pertain to specific regions where seeding is intended and where aircraft may operate. A licensee may conduct more than one project, each of which requires that a specific permit be issued before seeding can begin. The aim of regulating weather modification in Texas is to ensure that various methods of modifying the weather do not dissipate clouds nor inhibit their ability to produce rainfall to the detriment of people or property in the affected areas.
TDLR’s program also assists individuals, organizations and governmental bodies in the design of cloud-seeding operations, as well as monitoring ongoing seeding activities to ensure compliance with permits and helping to evaluate the impact of the seeding on “target” and neighborhood areas. It also administers federal grants for exploratory, and confirmatory, cloud-seeding studies and shares information on technological advances with other State agencies, organizations, and interested individuals.
Weather Modification Regulation
All individuals and organizations intending to conduct weather modification activities are required to obtain a weather modification license and permit from TDLR. Contact Adam Foster at (512) 202-8167 or adam.foster@tdlr.texas.gov for assistance with the licensing and permitting of weather modification operations.
The Department relies on its staff, as well as the Weather Modification Advisory Committee, for recommendations on applications for weather modification licenses and permits. The Committee, consisting of an engineer, people in business, an attorney at law, and an agricultural producer, meets several times each year, usually in Austin, to review applications for licenses and permits.
For more information about the weather modification program, e-mail TDLR at weather.modification@tdlr.texas.gov.