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CRDSS <br />TASK MEMORANDUM 2.09-15 <br />Review of USBR Weather Station and Recommended New Stations <br />For the Yampa-White 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 Yampa-White River. <br />2.0DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS <br />This review of NOAA weather stations encompasses only thos e stations utilized for the Yampa-White <br />River and as reported in the USBR's 1981-85 CULR. Th e stations identified in the appendices of the <br />CULR are listed in Table 1. <br />Subsequent to the 1981-85 CULR, USBR personnel have proposed changes in weather station selection <br />for some of the hydrologic units in Colorado. These recommended cha nges for the Yampa-White River <br />are summarized in Table 2. <br />Within the Yampa-White River, there are several NOAA weather stations which collect maximum and <br />minimum temperature and precipitation data but we re not utilized in the USBR's 1981-85 CULR or the <br />proposed revisions. These stations are listed in Ta ble 3. The listing includes only those stations with <br />recorded data from 1970. <br />Ideally, agricultural weather stations should be located 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 sta tions listed in Tables 1, 2 and 3 were provided by <br />Nolan Doesken, Colorado's Assistant State Climatologis t. Review of the descriptions found that most <br />of the sites are located in an urban environment. Six exceptions were not ed: Craig is located outside of <br />town near an industrial complex; Dinosaur National Monument is located on rough, hilly, semi-desert <br />land; Little Hills is located near a small office build ing in an open rural area; Marvine Ranch is located <br />on a ranch; Pyramid is located on a ranch; Rangely 1E is located outside of town near a water treatment <br />plant. <br />Since the data collected by NOAA is the only data available, these data are recommended for use in <br />CRDSS. This review of representativeness will onl y address the location of the selected weather <br />stations for each sector relative to the location of the irrigated area. <br />1 <br />12.3.96 12.09-15 - Walter <br />