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CRDSS <br />TASK MEMORANDUM 2.09-14 <br />Review of USBR Weather Station and Recommended New Stations <br />For the Upper Colorado River Basin <br />1.0ISSUE <br />Climatic data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather stations <br />are utilized to determine agricultural crop consumptive use in the United States Bureau of <br />Reclamation's (USBR) Colorado River System Consumptive Uses and Losses Report (CULR). In <br />the Phase I CRDSS Task Memorandum 1.14-1, it was recommended that the weather station sites be <br />checked for representativeness. This memorandum will serve to meet that recommendation as it <br />pertains to the upper stem of the Colorado River. <br />2.0DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS <br />This review of NOAA weather stations encompasses only those stations utilized for the upper stem <br />of the Colorado River and as reported in the USBR's 1981-85 CULR. The stations identified in the <br />appendices of the CULR are listed in Table 1. <br />Subsequent to the 1981-85 CULR, USBR personnel have proposed changes in weather station <br />selection for some of the hydrologic units in Colorado. These recommended changes for the upper <br />stem of the Colorado River are summarized in Table 2. <br />Within the upper stem of the Colorado River, there are several NOAA weather stations which collect <br />maximum and minimum temperature and precipitation data but were not utilized in the USBR's <br />1981-85 CULR or the proposed revisions. These stations are listed in Table 3. The listing includes <br />only those stations with recorded data from 1970. <br />Ideally, agricultural weather stations should be sited in level, open terrain, representative of the local <br />agricultural environment. Unfortunately, most NOAA weather stations are located in urban areas; <br />therefore, temperature measurements may not be representative. Precipitation measurements are <br />influenced more by regional topography; thus, an urban versus an agricultural siting should have very <br />little impact. Site descriptions of the weather stations listed in Tables 1, 2 and 3 were provided by <br />Nolan Doesken, Colorado's Assistant State Climatologist. Review of the descriptions found that <br />most of the sites are located in an urban environment. Eight exceptions were noted: Altenbern is <br />located on a ranch; Dillon 1 E is located on Denver Water's maintenance facility east of the reservoir. <br /> Grand Junction 6 ESE is located at the Colorado State University Orchard Mesa Research Center; <br />Meredith is located in a mountain valley; Green Mountain Dam's station is located in a narrow river <br />canyon valley at the base of the dam with steep mountains on two sides. Williams Fork Dam is <br />located in a narrow river valley near the base of the dam with surrounding rolling hills. Grand 6 <br />SSW is located at the NCWCD Farr Pumping Plant. <br />Since the data collected by NOAA is the only data available, these data are recommended for use by <br />CRDSS. This review of representativeness will only address the location of the selected weather <br />stations for each sector relative to the location of the irrigated area. <br />Recommended changes to the weather stations used in CRDSS are based upon the following: <br />1 <br />12.3.96 12.09-14 - Walter <br />