Power plant induced rainfall modification: Field studies and nonparametric tests

The results from the first 18 months of a field study of power plant induced rainfall modification are presented. This study, a part of the Meteorological Effects of Thermal Energy Releases (METER) Program, employs a network of 49 recording raingages and four recording windsets situated around the Bowen Electric Generating Plant in northwestern Georgia. The results are based on the data from the period February 1978 to August 1979. The analysis was based on a nonparametric statistical approach and primarily compared medians and dispersions of rainfall distributions. The comparisons were performed in a control‐target framework, and the data were stratified according to various storm types. The tests failed, in most cases, to detect an effect. The risk of concluding an effect when in fact there is none was 5%.