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<br />6 <br /> <br />LITERATURE REVIEW <br /> <br />Climatological Setting <br /> <br />The Buffalo Creek watershed is located in the Rocky Mountain Pront Range of central <br /> <br />Colorado. The average elevation of the fire-affected portions of the Buffalo Creek watershed is <br /> <br />approximately 2,250 meters, with minimum and maximum elevations of2,000 and 2,500 <br /> <br />meters, respectively. In winter, nearly all precipitation falls as snow. In the spring, upslope <br /> <br />conditions can cause heavy, relatively long-duration rainfall events produced by cold low- <br /> <br />pressure systems that draw moisture from the Gulf of Mexico (Barry, 1992). In the summer <br /> <br />months of June, July, and August, relatively shorter, high intensity convective storms are very <br /> <br />common. Particularly severe thunderstorms such as the event that caused the Big Thompson <br /> <br />flood of 1976 (McCain et aI., 1979), may occur in the foothill and piedmont regions of the state. <br /> <br />The Buffalo Creek Basin lies between two distinctive zones, one being the high plains of <br /> <br />Eastern Colorado and the Palmer divide, and the other being the high ridges of the Rocky <br /> <br />Mountain divide and the west slope. Jarrett and Costa (1983,1988) and Jarrett (1990,1993) <br /> <br />indicate that near an elevation of2,300 meters, peak flows are primarily caused by snowmelt, <br /> <br />whereas below 2,300 meters, floods most often occur from rainfall. <br /> <br />Physical Characteristics k. i"Y' --t./ <br /> <br />The ~uffalo Creek watershed has a drainage areag.e miles and Sand Draw, a <br /> <br />sub-basin of Buffalo Creek has an area of 1.6 square miles. The Buffalo Creek watershed, like <br /> <br />many other Front Range basins of similar elevation, has forest cover of Ponderosa Pine, <br />