Hail Suppression and Society
Stanley A. Changnon Jr. 1,
Barbara C. Farhar 2, and
Earl R. Swanson 3
1 Head of the Atmospheric Sciences Section of the Illinois State Water Survey and a professor of geography at the University of Illinois, Urbana 61801
2 Research associate at the Institute of Behavioral Science of the University of Colorado, Boulder 80302
3 Professor of agricultural economics at the University of Illinois, Urbana 61801
An interdisciplinary assessment of hail suppression in the past, present, and future has shown it to be currently scientifically uncertain but a potentially beneficial future technology. An established suppression technology would be widely adopted in the Great Plains, providing benefits to agriculture and secondarily to the American consumer. Development of a reliable technology will require a sizable longterm federal commitment to atmospheric and social research. Subcritical funding would be a mistake. Orderly future usage of hail suppression, with its scientific complexities and regional character, will necessitate development of governmental regulations, evaluation procedures, interstate arrangements, and means for compensating those who lose from modification.
