As of Sept. 1, cloud seeding has concluded for the District I operations area of the 2016 North Dakota Cloud Modification Project (NDCMP). For the season there were 131.09 flight hours flown in the district, which included Bowman and part of Slope counties. Of those hours, 99.15 were flown for hail suppression, 11.50 for rain enhancement, 13.73 for reconnaissance, and 6.71 for aircraft repositioning.
Overall, 2016 District I flight hours were above the ten-year average of 112.97 hours. There were 35 operational days out of a possible 92 project days when hail suppression, rain enhancement, and/or reconnaissance flights were flown in the district. Hail suppression operations were flown on 26 of the operational days, rain enhancement on 7 days, and reconnaissance operations on 13 days.
Planning meetings for the 2017 NDCMP will be held in January. Seeding operations are scheduled to resume June 1.
