FLOOD00098

• County: Eagle
• Community: Vail, Eagle County
• Stream Name: Gore Creek
• Title: Floodplain Information Report
• Date: 6/1/1975
• Prepared For: Eagle County
• Prepared By: HYDRO-TRIAD, LTD.
• Contract/PO #: &&
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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III. MOISTURE SOUFCES FOR PRECIPITATION IN THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN

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The inland location of the catchment area of the Upper Colorado River

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Basin receives its moisture from air masses which have been modified

by travel over a considerable distance of land. Three predominant

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moisture sources can be identified. The time of year is also important.

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The arrows shown in Fig. 3 identify the general moisture sources at

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the different times of the year for the entire Upper Colorado River

Basin.l The following comments relate more specifically to the Gore

Range of mountains as they receive precipitation at the various times of

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the year.

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Summer shower activity occurs mainly in July and August. The moisture

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source at this time of the year is primarily the Gulf of Mexico. Its

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path'toward the Gore Range moves northward from Mexico, across Arizona

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or New Mexico, turning toward the northeast as the air mass moves across

Colorado. Before any moisture reaches the Gore Range the air mass must

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move across two or three mountain ranges which are essentially of equal

or greater height than the Gore Range. ' Thus, the release of moisture

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over the prior ranges helps decrease the amount of moisture available for

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summer showers feeding the streams that empty into Gore Creek.

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Beginning in Sept~ber and continuing into early June the moisture source

for the Gore Range is from cool Pacific air masses. These air masses

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must first pass over the mountain ranges in Oregon, California, Nevada

and Utah. Moisture delivery per unit time during the winter months,

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September thro~gh early June, comes from many hours of very light pre-

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cipitation per hour. There are almost no instances when precipitation

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