Simulated Natural Properties and Seeding Impacts in a Seeded Cloud Observed during SNOWIE

Quantifying the precipitation effect of AgI cloud seeding is extremely difficult even for wintertime orographic clouds that are believed to be the most susceptible clouds to glaciogenic seeding. Previous observational studies have mostly taken the approach to compare surface precipitation between events and areas predicted to be affected by cloud seeding to those without cloud seeding assuming well-behaved correlations in natural precipitation between events or areas. However, the large variability of natural precipitation evolution and distribution makes such seeding effect assessments highly uncertain. State-of-the-art numerical models that can faithfully reproduce the natural orographic cloud dynamics, microphysics, and associated AgI seeding processes become useful tools to understand the detailed mechanisms of how AgI seeding impact clouds and precipitation and to evaluate possible precipitation effect from seeding if the simulated microphysical processes and precipitation are thoroughly validated by observations. Only until the Seeded and Natural Orographic Wintertime clouds: the Idaho Experiment (SNOWIE) field campaign, no good quality of in-situ and remote-sensing data from natural and AgI seeded orographic clouds exists to validate the WRF AgI seeding parameterization. This work shows the validation of WRF AgI seeding parameterization in terms of microphysics and precipitation by various SNOWIE observations and the comparison between model simulated and observed natural cloud properties and seeding effect during the IOP5 of the SNOWIE project.