Humans have the technology to literally make snow fall from the clouds. In the drought-stricken Southwest, where the Colorado River needs every drop of water it can get, there are calls to use it more. Utah, home to the nation’s largest cloud seeding program, is at the crossroads of the technology’s past and future. The state has become a proving ground for cloud seeding in the West, with water managers, private sector investors, and conspiracy theorists keeping a close eye on their progress. … Utah’s cloud seeding program is being closely watched by others around the region. Its efforts cover more ground than any other state in the nation, and it has one of the strongest bases of state funding. For that reason, other water-short states in the Western U.S. are keeping an eye on how much return on investment Utah is getting from a $5 million annual cloud seeding budget and those efficiency-boosting tech upgrades.

Other Colorado River Basin news:

• Nevada Current: Opinion: Westerners are up in arms about proposed public land sales. NV Dems don’t seem to notice.​
• The Colorado Sun (Denver): Colorado’s tree-eating pine beetles are surging back after a prolonged dry spell
•  Vail Daily (Colo.): With future funding of Colorado’s water projects uncertain, lawmakers begin to hunt for solutions
• John Fleck at Inkstain: Blog: On the Colorado River, doing the accounting with care