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CRDSS <br />TASK MEMORANDUM 2.09-16 <br />Review of USBR Weather Station and Recommended New Stations <br />For the Dolores-San Miguel River Basin <br />1.0ISSUE <br />Climatic data from the National Oceanic and Atmos pheric Administration (NOAA) weather stations are <br />utilized to determine agricultural crop consumptive us e in the United States Bureau of Reclamation's <br />(USBR) Colorado River System C onsumptive Uses and Losses Report (CULR). In the Phase I CRDSS <br />Task Memorandum 1.14-1, it was recommended that the weather station sites be checked for <br />representativeness. This memorandum will serve to meet that recommendation as it pertains to the <br />Dolores-San Miguel River basins. <br />2.0DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS <br />This review of NOAA weather stations encompasses only those stations utilized for the Dolores-San <br />Miguel River basins and as reported in the US BR'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 selection <br />for some of the hydrologic units in Colorado. These recommended cha nges for the Dolores-San Miguel <br />River basins are summarized in Table 2. <br />Within the Dolores-San Miguel River basins, there are several NOAA weather stations which collect <br />maximum and minimum temperature and precipitation data but were not utilized in the USBR's 1981-85 <br />CULR or the proposed revisions. These stations are listed in Table 3. The listing includes only those <br />stations with 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 in Colorado are located in urban <br />areas; 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 Climatologist. Review of the descriptions found that in the <br />Dolores-San Miguel River basins a majority of the weather station are located in a non-agriculture <br />environment. Ames is located in a narrow river cany on at a former power plant. Cortez is located on <br />low rolling farm land. Dolores is located in a narrow river valley with steep forested slopes. Northdale <br />and Norwood are located on low rolling farmland. Paradox is located in a large mountain valley west of <br />the Town of Paradox. Trout Lake is located in a small valley surrounded by forested mountains. The <br />remaining weather stations which include Gateway, Placerville, Rico and Telluride, are located in an <br />urban environment. <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 />Recommended changes to the weather stations used in CRDSS are based upon the following: <br />1 <br />12..3.96 12.09-16 - Walter <br />