New York Officials Quietly Drop Howell as Rainmaker

Rainmaking in New York is again the province of Mother Nature and any witch doctors who may care to turn their hands to it. Wallace E. Howell '36, research meteorologist at the University's Blue Hills Observatory, no longer seeds the heavens for the city's reservoirs.

Hired in the spring of 1950 to fill the almost empty reservoirs that supply New York's millions with water, Howell sent regular expeditions into the clouds until his contract ran out last summer. City officials feel that they now have water enough to dispense with Howell's $100 a day services.

"Completely Satisfied"

They said that they were "completely satisfied" with the results Howell obtained, and would probably use him again if the situation got serious.

Last spring, however, there were many who did not feel so kindly towards Howell's intervention in the course of nature. Several amusement park owners in the East, notably Palisades Park in New Jersey, filed law suits against Howell on the grounds that he "was interfering with business." They based their claims on the phenomenon of 32 consecutive rain-filled week-ends in and around New York and New England.

Howell warns that there are other dangers in making rain. There have been floods in the Winnipeg and Mississippi valleys due to unnatural rain, made by inexperienced men who overseeded clouds or seeded them too soon.

He calls for government controls on rainmaking, as the consequences of such projects are usually of more than local concern, and often cross state borders.

"Making rain is one thing," commented Howell. "Stopping it is not as easy. But it's not impossible."