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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />VI. MOISTURE SOURCES <br />Seasonality of Sources <br />There are three moisture sources available to the Gore Range.1,2,3,4 <br />Each of these sources is associated with a different season of the year. <br />Figure VI-l illustrates the flow of air from these seasonal moisture <br />sources. <br />Winter Moisture <br />Winter and spring snows, which form the bulk of the annual precipi- <br />tation are a result of moist air masses coming from the cool Northern <br />Pacific Ocean in the Gulf of Alaska and inland from the Pacific Northwest. <br />These air masses must pass over the Cascade Range or the Sierra-Nevada <br />Range, several ranges in Nevada, Idaho and Utah and then a series of <br />ranges~in the Colorado Rockies before arriving at the Gore Range. The <br />series of uplifts during transit causes much of the moisture to precipi- <br />tate out, thereby limiting the amount of moisture available for delivery <br />to the Gore Range. However, the passage of these winter storms is <br />often temporarily slowed during the eastward movement across the con- <br />tinent due to terrain barriers, thus providing a longer precipitation <br />time. <br />Summer Moisture <br />Summer showers and thunderstorms, with moisture pulled in from the <br />Gulf of Mexico, occur most commonly in July and August although thunder- <br />storms can occur as early as May and as late as October. Temperatures <br />in the Gore Creek Valley are usually too cold in May and June to provide <br />the uplift necessary to produce significant thunderstorms and the <br />