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<br />accumulates~ Snowmelt begins in late April and continues well <br />into June or early July. Annual snowfall in the study area ranges <br />from approximately 36 inches at Paonia to approximately 300 inches <br />at the higher elevations of the North Fork Gunnison River (Refer- <br />ence 2). <br /> <br />The mean temperatures in the paonia area range from approximately <br />200F in January to approximately 720F in July. Cooler temperatures <br />prevail at the higher elevations~ <br /> <br />The floodplains of the streams studied in this report consist <br />of primarily light residential development or undeveloped land. <br /> <br />2.3 Principal Flood Problems <br /> <br />Principal flood problems in the paonia area are caused primarily <br />as a result of rapidly melting snow, sometimes augmented by general <br />rain during the late spring and early summer~ <br /> <br />Major floods from general rain alone or cloudburst storms have <br />not been documented in interviews with local residents or from <br />nearby gaging station records to have occured in the Paonia area. <br />Floods of this type, however, are possible in the Paonia study <br />area. <br /> <br />Snowmelt flooding in the Paonia area is characterized by high <br />peak flows, large volume of runoff, long duration, and marked <br />diurnal fluctuation of flow. <br /> <br />No stream gages are in existence on the North Fork Gunnison River <br />or Minnesota Creek at paonia, therefore, records of historic flood <br />peaks are unavailable. <br /> <br />Using records from the nearby u.s. Geological Survey stream gage <br />No. 1325 on the North Fork Gunnison River near Somerset, the highest <br />flow of record occured on June 4, 1957, with a record peak of <br />7,680 cubic feet per second (cfs). Other measurable flows occured <br />in 1928, 1929, 1932, and 1937. The 1957 flood had an estimated <br />recurrence interval of approximately 45 years at the gage site <br />(References 3, 4, and 5). <br /> <br />On Minnesota Creek, the flood of record as recorded at the U.s. <br />Geological Survey stream gage No. 1340 located approximately 4.5 <br />miles upstream of Paonia occured on July 10, 1936, with a peak <br />flow of 356 cfs. Based on the results of this study, the 1936 <br />flood had an estimated recurrence interval of approximately 5 <br />years at the gage site (References 3, 4, and 5). <br /> <br />The only recent documentation of flood damage in Paonia occured <br />in May 1979 and April 1980 on the North Fork Gunnison River and <br />was caused primarily by severe bank erosion of the new Riverside <br /> <br />5 <br />