26 Sep 1971

1971: Project STORMFURY. Air Weather Service WC-130s dropped silver iodide into Hurricane Ginger to decrease the storm’s intensity.  It was the USAF’s first hurricane seeding attempt. Because of the size of the eye of the storm, results of the effort were inconclusive. (Surface map from NOAA)
Project STORMFURY was an ambitious experimental program of research on hurricane modification carried out between 1962 and 1983. The proposed modification technique involved artificial stimulation of convection outside the eyewall through seeding with silver iodide. The invigorated convection, it was argued, would compete with the original eyewall, lead to reformation of the eyewall at larger radius, and thus, through partial conservation of angular momentum, produce a decrease in the strongest winds.