BY ISAIAH FRIZZELL
Ski season is upon us!
With three great ski resorts in Blaine County, Bald Mountain Ski Area, Soldier Mountain Ski Area is home to one of the oldest ski resorts in the USA, Sun Valley, since 1936 to be (roughly) exact. Roughly? Give or take six months—and what’s six months? Six months is about the length of the average ski season. From November to April backcountry enthusiasts, EMTs and resort staff brace themselves as skiers grab a slice of toasted pumpernickel with pumpkin butter and click into those Pescado’s—pumped and primed to lay their planks on some prime powder.
Nearly everyone is looking for snow. Ski resort managers routinely check forecasts hoping for a nice pack while DOT readies its plows to help everyone get “Idaho Ready’’ (itd.idaho.gov). Don’t forget tire chains, subzero sleeping bags, extra blankets, and a first-aid kit with plenty of water in your car, just in case!
But What if It Doesn’t Snow?
On average, Sun Valley gets an average of 164 inches of soft-water crystals per year from around 43 days of snowfall. Compare that to the 2022-2023 season that had 62 days of snowfall meeting the 164-inch average. With an average base depth of 56 incches and summit depth of 75 inches, we’re peering into 5 to 6 feet of snow at Sun Valley. The biggest snowfall was 16 inches; however, in the 2018-2019 season, it was 29 inches! (onthesnow.com)
With moving averages and variations in the hydrological cycle, it begs the question: “What if there isn’t enough snow?” Not to worry. Geologists and chemists have long been at this study and have some semi-solid solutions.
Making Snow Angels
Water keeps a mountain, and, of course, a person, healthy. It’s not only vital for skiing but for agriculture, the growth of flora and fauna as well as the runoff that feeds the rivers and helps the sockeye, chinook and steelhead get what they need on the way to their final destination.
Snowpack at high elevation is considered a primary resource according to the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR). Maintaining this water resource is key, not only for Idaho but for the entire country, as well. One of the ways this has been enhanced is by a process called cloud seeding, which was experimented with as early as 1941 by American chemist and meteorologist Vincent J. Schaefer. Since then, it has become a mainstay of making it rain (and snow) via aircraft, cannon and ground generators (britannica.com). After much study and experimentation, it was in 2003 that Idaho Power began using cloud seeding (idahopower.com).
Chemical Ice-Nucleation
The process has changed over the years but generally involves the gathering of extensive meteorological data fed into highperformance computing models. In action, the seeding material, generally silver iodide, is injected into clouds and storms to enhance or at the very least induce precipitation. The silver iodide uses a process called “chemical ice-nucleation” to bond with and freeze small particles of water so they fall as snow. One of the key aspects is the shape of the molecules being hexagonal and new materials are being studied such as graphene for this very property which aligns geometrically with the crystalline structure of snow (nature.com).
Cloud seeding is done either by airplane or ground station with Idaho Power commanding over 32 ground stations and two airplanes in the Central Idaho Mountains. The primary equipment used are ground generators spraying silver iodide or liquid propane and many airplane-mounted methods including end-burning flares, hygroscopic flares, ejectable flares or even the deployment of dry-ice pellets (nawmc.org).
Idaho Power’s programs, in the Payette, Boise, Wood River and Snake River basins, that use this process have shown yields of around a 10% increase in precipitation, or “approximately 600,000 acre-feet of additional water in the Payette, Boise and Wood River basins as well as over 400,000 acre-feet of additional water each year in the upper Snake River basin. One million acre-feet of water can generate approximately 844,500 megawatt-hours if used for hydroelectric production — enough to power roughly 74,000 homes” (idahopower.com). Freeze Energy! There are plans to expand these programs, one in particular was greenlit in the Idaho area of the Bear River Basin in 2017 (idahostatejournal.com).
Pumping Pie in the Ski
Cloud-seeding programs are popping up everywhere, and as recently as last week, on Nov. 15, the North American Weather Modification Council held an educational event at the Idaho Department of Water Resources, on Front Street in Boise, to address the expanding use of cloud seeding in Idaho. Can we expect to see more snow this year? Ski resorts have long used snow machines, but have recently ramped up cloud-seeding programs to augment their snowpack in the hopes of delivering a more predictable recreation experience (martinandwoodwaterconsultants.com).
While cloud seeding and weather modification is not new, it’s been used for decades perhaps most famously at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing in a thorough program designed at Beijing’s Weather Modification Office, the techniques have progressed (technologyreview.com).
Rain or shine, water reservoirs must stay full and that’s why we have a North American Weather Modification Council. The dangers of spraying silver iodide, propane or any other seeding material into the hydrological stream have largely been disputed through studies explaining, for example, since silver iodide is insoluble in water and thus likely poses no threat (idahopower.com). And what of the other methods or accumulation in the biologics of the ecosystem? Only time, more studies and more money will tell. The Aaerage IWRB cloud-seeding program costs $1.62 million in taxpayer funding (idwr.idaho.gov).
With the ever-reaching ingenuity of scientists and technology, backcountry enthusiasts should have no lack of gear to pack when it comes to being safe while having fun. Cloud seeding is advancing not only across the world but in the study itself. So whether you’re skiing, saving lives or serving, having fun in the cold has gotten a boost. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s – it’s the end of harvest time in these parts and the time of year to be grateful for all the bounty. The skier and surrounding cottage industries have the scientists to thank for doing their extra little bit to help enhance the environment.