Due to budget shortfalls, Vail Resorts has pulled this winter’s funding for its cloud seeding program — the longest-running in the state at 44 years — potentially reducing the amount of water flowing down the Colorado River this spring.
According to a November report from Colorado Water Conservation Board Director Rebecca Mitchell, due to economic challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, Vail Resorts was forced to suspend all funding for cloud seeding for the 2020-21 season. This has resulted in a $300,000 loss of funding for cloud seeding activities over the central Rocky Mountains.
While this could be bad news for skiers, it also means a challenge for Western water managers who use cloud seeding to increase water supplies by increasing snowfall in the mountainous headwaters of the Colorado River and its tributaries. While ski resorts tend to focus their cloud seeding on increasing early-season snow, water managers tend to choose the best storms throughout the season and boost those.
According to Mitchell’s report, the loss of Vail’s cloud seeding program severely reduces the ability to augment and increase water supplies.
“This recent decision has put managers of the (Central Colorado Mountain River Basin Program) in a very difficult position as they endeavor to meet the needs of drought recovery,” Mitchell’s report reads.
Vail Resorts did not respond to requests for comment.
The weather modification program is one of six in Colorado. This program is run by the Colorado River Water Conservation District and covers Grand, Summit, Eagle and Pitkin counties. Vail Resorts’ program is separate from the central Colorado program, but it is within the permit area and focuses on Vail and Beaver Creek ski resorts.
