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considerable variation from south of west to north of west. As a result most synoptic scale storms reach Colorado from the west during winter and deposit precipitation (primarily snow) along and west of the mountain ranges of Colorado. Some of the mountain areas have their wettest season in winter. As the air crosses the higher elevations and starts to move downward, the precipitation weakens and typically ends by 2,800 m (9,186 feet) to 2,400 m (7,874 feet) elevations. Winter is the driest season on the plains with cold air and smalll1lllounts of water in the atmosphere. Occasionally, large storms do occur on the plains and eastern slopes of the mountains when storms have the right timing to bring water westward over the plains to Colorado. During the spring months, the temperature warms, water content of the air increases, west winds weaken, and the storm track begins to move northward. Storms are fewer in number and slower moving but they occasionally bring abundant moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the central U.S. into eastern Colorado and can produce more precipitation in eastern Colorado and the Front Range. A single spring storm can deposit as much precipitation in eastern Colorado as most winter storms combined. Spring becomes the wettest period for the Front Range. This period typically lasts from March into early June. At the sl1llle time, storms for the west become less frequent especially over southwestern Colorado. June is often the driest month of the year for western Colorado. The last half of June is often a dry period in much of Colorado. In mid summer, winds aloft are normally quite weak and solar heating of the ground leads to convection which becomes the dominant element in daily weather. The storm track moves north of Colorado most of the time but does occasionally dip southward to strengthen convective storms in Colorado in July and August. This leads to a maximum of precipitation over the eastern plains in summer. As a region 7