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25 Baylor L. Rev. 501 (1973)
Legal Aspects of Weather Modification in Texas

handle is hein.journals/baylr25 and id is 503 raw text is: LEGAL ASPECTS OF WEATHER MODIFICATION IN TEXAS The state of the weather is a matter that affects everything and everybody more than any other natural phenomenon. Wars have been won because of it (e.g., Napoleon in 1812 and the Germans in World War II were pushed out of Russia because of the snow and extreme cold). Weather has destroyed crops and livestock, causing civilizations to migrate. Weather is of great importance to our daily lives but until recently there was nothing that could be done about it; people had to live with the consequences of whatever the weather happened to be. For centuries man has unsuccessfully attempted to control the weather. He has looked to the gods for rain, for fair weather, for protection from turbulent weather, and generally for better weather than that which he had at the time; Indian rain dances today offer nothing more than color to the tribe's culture. Later, artillery and explosives were tried on the premise that since so many battles were fought in the rain and mud, they must help create it. Cannons were fired at clouds and explosives set off on the ground or from balloons. An 1891 experiment in Midland to modify the weather was inconclu- sive, however a downpour followed an experiment in 1972 in San Diego, Texas.' Modern rainmakers use chemicals, usually silver iodide, to make rain by releasing them into a cloud either from an aircraft, or by letting air currents carry them up from the ground. A cloud may be seeded in this manner if it is at least three miles wide, two miles thick, and extends above the freezing point, which is usually about 12,000 to 14,000 feet above sea level. If the conditions are favorable, some of of the silver iodide reaches the freezing point where it forms ice crystals, turns to snow, attracts enough additional moisture to over- come the cloud's turbulence and falls to the ground. The snow melts to rain long before it leaves the cloud. Weather modification today deals with the suppression of hailstorms to prevent damage to crops and livestock, reducing the chances of lightning starting a forest fire in the dry season, bringing rain during periods of drought or preventing rain in areas of flood. But the usual complaints concern two areas: 1. Flooding in areas where this would not naturally have occurred at the particular time and/or to that particular extent. 2. Drought in an area where rain would or should otherwise have fallen. iWaco Tribune-Herald, September 10, 1972, p. 12c.