Cloud Seeding Program Cut By Wyoming House

The state of Wyoming has spent a lot of money over a lot of years hoping that cloud seeding would work.

There was never any evidence that it did, or did not.

So do we continue to spend money on wishful thinking?

It was suggested that Wyoming cut the program during the Legislative session of 2023. But the cut was rejected back then.

Not this time. Not in the House Of Representatives anyway.

$1.1 million of the state’s cloud-seeding budget has been cut.

Some have argued that there is some evidence that cloud seeding works. But the results they claim are so scant, that it seems not worth it.

The discussion is not over.

This cut still has to be made through the Senate, then through reconciliation, and then pass the governor's veto pen.

A few years ago I had a chance to speak with the director of Wyoming's cloud seeding program as we stood by a University Of Wyoming research plane at the Cheyenne Regional Airport.

I asked him directly if cloud seeding works.

He admitted that he was not sure if it did, or did not. As a scientist, he admitted there was not strong enough evidence to say conclusively that it did.

I asked how it was supposed to work and he explained that cloud seeding is done by spraying silver iodide over the clouds.

There is already water in the clouds.

The droplets just need something to cling to.

The added weight of the silver iodide causes those water droplets to fall from the cloud to the ground, in theory.

We now wait to see if this cut makes it through the entire legislative process and past the governor.

USS ENTERPRISE CLEARED TO LAND AT WYOMING AIRPORT!

I was out at the Casper/Natrona County airport with my flight instructor taxing toward runway 21 when, suddenly, I slammed on the brakes.

"Has the Enterprise been cleared to land?" I asked.

There was no doubt in either of our heads that this was what we were seeing. I scrambled for my phone to get a photo before they jumped to warp so something.

This leads to some important questions:
Why didn't they just beam down?
If the transporters are broken then why not just use a shuttle?
Was this a scheduled maintenance stop?
Are we about to see phasers blasting or something?

If you look at the windsock in the photo you can see that even the Enterprise has to land into the wind. I had no idea. I figured, since the ship could hover, that wind direction did not matter. You know, anti-gravity and all that stuff.

Their departure of the ship was a bit odd. It was as if the Enterprise itself was beamed up as it just slowly dissolved into what looked like a bunch of smaller clouds, then vanished.

ACTUALLY - Look at that photo again. The ship above the enterprise looks like the one from the TV show FIREFLY. You can see what that ship looks like at this link.

As you know Wyoming is a frequent landing port for alien spacecraft. We have Devil's Tower on the one end and an actual "Intergalactic Space Port" landing strip on the other.

Well of course Wyoming has an intergalactic spaceport.

It is Wyoming, after all. In fact, we now have 3 when we include Casper.

It doesn't look like much, but then again most of Green River doesn't look like much.

The "Official Designation" of this spaceport comes from back in 1994 when the remnants of a comet were about to slam into the planet Jupiter. Some folks in Green River were worried that those living on Jupiter might need to escape their planet for someplace safe. They decided to open their little dirt strip airport and extend an invitation.

To our knowledge, no one from Jupiter took them up on the offer. TO OUR KNOWLEDGE. I just want to make that part clear.

The spaceport is actually listed on Google Maps. It is also listed on charts used by pilots.

The site is officially closed to the public unless being used for aviation - or space aliens.

Folks are now having fun posting signs and parking other odd and fun space alien stuff - like one might find in Roswell, New Mexico.

There is now an "official sign."

There is a jeep, with aliens ready to dive off to check in at a local hotel.

Below is a BONUS VIDEO from the pilot's point of view as he takes a moment on his cross-country trip to land at the airport - sorry - spaceport... Be patient and watch as he thinks he spots some debris leftover from sloppy aliens. You know, the usual: beer bottles and cans and spent bullet casings.

The little dirt runway is not used much. Some pilots occasionally like to do a touch and go just to say they landed at Earth's only intergalactic spaceport.