U.S. Weather Bureau chief F.W. Reichelderfer praised the plans of Wallace Howell '36 to relive the New York water shortage in an announcement yesterday. The $50,000 "Project Cirrus" will get its first test tomorrow if there are suitable clouds over the Catskills.

"We like the way New York City is going at rain making," said the weather chief, Reichelderfer singled out for approval the "statistical approach" that Howell is using. The Blue Hills meteorologist, who is receiving $100 a day for his trouble, will set up control regions and compare rainfall in those areas with average precipitation for the past 15 years.

Criticized Previous Attempts

Many weather men criticized previous cloud-seeding experiments because they failed to provide precise checks on the amount of rain produced.

Howell announced that he will only claim as man-made rain that which falls downwind from his aerial seeding. His first test will be done with dry ice dropped through a hopper and spout attachment built into two New York police department amphibious planes.

More elaborate techniques to be introduced within a few weeks will include refinements in the dropping mechanisms and the installation of silver iodide smoke generators on the aircraft.