Word: cumulus
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Dates: during 1950-1950
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Instead of "triggering a rainstorm," the objective is to turn the small water droplets . . . into fine snowflakes, so that the cloud will fuzz out and drift away instead of growing into a towering cumulus with an anvil top and lots of lightning...
Reluctant Clouds. In arid regions like New Mexico, Langmuir explained, big cumulus clouds often rise high in the air without dropping any rain. In such cases, the air does not contain enough natural nuclei (suitable dust particles) for moisture to condense upon. The warm air from over a sun-heated plain boils upward vigorously, but the moisture in it does not condense until the cold upper levels are reached. Then it condenses suddenly into very small ice particles that drift off at about 35,000 feet, leaving the ground dry, its inhabitants disappointed...