Irving P. Krick

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Irving P. Krick
Krick in 1935
Born1906 Edit this on Wikidata
San Francisco (United States) Edit this on Wikidata
Died20 June 1996 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 89–90)
Pasadena (United States) Edit this on Wikidata
Alma mater
OccupationMeteorologist Edit this on Wikidata
Employer

Irving P. Krick (1906 – June 20, 1996) was an American

Normandy Landings in 1944, a controversial pioneer of long-term forecasting and cloud seeding, and "a brilliant American salesman"[1] who in 1938 started the first private weather business in the United States.[2]

Early years

Krick was born in

MIT
graduate, helped him find his true interest in weather.

Caltech

Around 1930, he began studying at the

March Field not far from Caltech.[1]

Krick completed his doctoral degree in 1934 and remained at Caltech as an instructor.

movie industry, for which Krick famously forecast the weather for the burning of Atlanta in Gone With The Wind.[6] Krick was determined about making money; "weather forecasting was his product line, although, like many a great salesmen, his number one product was himself".[1] He then stayed as a professor, offering a special curriculum for Arnold's nascent Air Force Weather Service.[4]

Caltech terminated the meteorology department in 1948. In response, Krick left the school to start his own firm, taking with him most of the department staff.[6]

World War II

With the outbreak of

Francis W. Reichelderfer, who detested Krick as a "smug, supremely self-confident self-promoter".[4] However, with Arnold's backing Krick was nearly invincible.[8]

In 1944 Krick was engaged in meteorology support for the upcoming Allied

Normandy Landings (see Weather forecasting for Operation Overlord), along with rival weather services from the United Kingdom. On May 28 Sverre Petterssen, a Norwegian meteorologist in British service, raised concerns that a coming storm would break out on June 2 and interfere with the landings planned on June 5. Krick argued to the contrary, asserting that there was no need to postpone the offensive – he envisaged nothing but continuously quiet weather over the following five days.[9] Krick based his confidence on studies of 50 years of recorded weather; he was certain that the English Channel would be protected by the Azores High, a pressure pattern dominating over the eastern Atlantic. Unusually, as time passed by the uncertainties of the vital weather forecast did not dissolve, and consequently tension between Krick and Petterssen increased further. Finally, on June 3, Colonel Donald Yates (deputy to chief meteorologist James Stagg), a former student of Krick and one of the few people who could handle him, intervened in the rivalry and persuaded the Allied meteorologists to produce a joint weather forecast.[10] In the end, Petterssen's opinion prevailed; despite Krick's initial objection, the landings were delayed by one day, saving the troops from a major disaster.[10]

The controversy was fictionalised in the 2014 play Pressure by David Haig, with Krick appearing as a central character; the play however does not make reference to Petterssen's role, instead making an uncompromising Stagg the hero who, by persuading Eisenhower that he was right and Krick wrong, saved countless lives by insisting that the landing be postponed by a day.

Post-war practice

After leaving Caltech, Krick continued offering commercial long-term weather forecasts. He also added the service of cloud seeding, forcing precipitation in drought-affected areas.

In summer of 1948 Krick performed the first series of 27 airborne cloud seeding tests over central Arizona, dropping up to 300 pounds (140 kg) of ice particles on each flight. Indeed, the seeded clouds released rain, raising water levels in local reservoirs. The "rain makers" admitted that the result had other, natural, causes, but in a year that was one of the driest on record it was a significant success. Financially, the volume of water added by Krick's experiment cost only $2.50, compared to $14 going rate.[11] In December 1949 Krick suggested cloud seeding without resorting to airborne devices; his proposal employed ground-based smoke generators dispersing vaporized silver iodide. A single smoke dispenser set, asserted Krick, could be moved by two wheelbarrows; it theoretically provided cloud-seeding particles for an area of 240 square miles (620 km2). Tests demonstrated a fourfold increase in precipitation.[12] By 1951 his cloud-seeding business had 120 employees and had been hired to seed clouds over 330 million acres (1,300,000 km2) in the western United States as well as parts of Mexico and San Salvador.[13]

However, the American meteorological establishment opposed his practice, asserting his methods of cloud seeding were bogus and the weather could not be forecast for more than five days in the future.[

Weather Bureau, but they too did not believe in his methods, so he started a private business. He successfully proved his basic premises, making a substantial profit from forecasts and weather making. Krick's practice caught the eye of many famous figures, and he was hired to forecast the weather for presidential inaugurations and movie shoots.[citation needed] He garnered attention in 1957 when his prediction of sunny weather for President Eisenhower's second inauguration, made 17 days before the event, came true.[2] Of his most notable achievements, Dr. Krick also made rain in Israel after a severe drought, [citation needed] made it stop hailing in Alberta, Canada, [citation needed] and made enough snow for the 1960 Winter Olympics to take place.[citation needed]

MK 2 HARVARDS HAIL SUPPRESSION CALGARY 1964

During the mid-sixties, Irving P. Krick & Associates operated a successful cloud seeding operation in the area around Calgary, Alberta. This utilized both aircraft and ground-based generators that pumped silver iodide into the atmosphere in an attempt to reduce the threat of hail damage. Ralph Langeman, Lynn Garrison, and Stan McLeod, all ex-members of the RCAF, attending the University of Alberta, spent their summers flying hail suppression. A number of surplus Harvard aircraft were fitted with racks under each wing containing 32 railroad fuzees that were impregnated with silver iodide. These could be ignited individually or all at once, depending upon the threat. In coordination with ground units, the aircraft would lay a plume of silver iodide in front of approaching cumulonimbus clouds with noticeable effect. Large, active CBs were reduced to nothing. Heavy hail storms were reduced in intensity. [citation needed]

This effective program [citation needed] was funded by farmer contributions and government grants. The program was run each summer and did much to reduce crop damage by hail, otherwise the farm community would not have continued to finance the project. [citation needed]

In 1990 Krick sold his weather business to Strategic Weather Services, renamed in 2000 to Planalytics,[14] remaining with that company as chairman emeritus until his 1996 death from heart failure.[6]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Cox 2002, p. 192.
  2. ^ a b Prophets for Profit, Time magazine, April 5, 1957
  3. ^ "Distinguished Alumni". Tau Kappa Epsilon. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Harper 2008, p. 72.
  5. ^ Boyne, pp. 15–16
  6. ^ a b c d Fountain, Henry (June 30, 1996). "Irving P. Krick, 89, Who Made a Business Out of Forecasting the Weather". The New York Times, June 30, 1996. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  7. ^ Harper 2008, p. 57.
  8. ^ Cox 2002, p. 193.
  9. ^ Cox 2002, p. 190.
  10. ^ a b Cox 2002, p. 194.
  11. ^ Nadeau, p. 284
  12. ^ Nadeau, p. 285
  13. ^ Milkman of the Skies, Time magazine, August 27, 1951
  14. ^ Mazurkiewicz, Greg (April 18, 2000). "Hvacr services: Strategic Weather Services". ACHR News. Retrieved January 28, 2023.

References

Bibliography
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