A CENSUS OF CUMULUS-CLOUD HEIGHT VERSUS PRECIPITATION IN THE VICINITY OF PUERTO RICO DURING THE WINTER AND SPRING OF 1953-1954

Abstract

The analysis of fifteen cloud-census flights confirms the common existence of warm precipitation from trade-wind cumuli. A probability that over-water clouds of certain vertical developments will contain precipitation is presented. Since the examined over-water clouds with tops higher than 11,500 feet always contained precipitation and yet were well below the freezing level, the futility of initiating rain by seeding clouds with freezing reagents becomes obvious.