Utah's expansion of cloud seeding is starting to provide a return on investment, water policymakers were told earlier this month.

"Statewide average is 10.4% increase in snowpack," said Jake Serago, an engineer with the Utah Division of Water Resources, during a presentation to the state's water resources board on Oct. 9.

Cloud seeding pumps silver iodide into the atmosphere during a storm to generate a little more precipitation. It does not create storms, nor does it intensify them. It just squeezes a little more juice out of an existing storm.

The Utah State Legislature pumped a massive amount of cash into cloud seeding earlier this year in an effort to help mitigate impacts from drought. The state's cloud seeding budget went from roughly $200,000 in 2022 to nearly $16 million this ye

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