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2.75" difference in annual precipitation over a distance of only about 20 miles by air. This <br />certainly shows why reliance on a single data set for annual climate or even daily weather is <br />not a particularly good idea. In most years the differences may not be that much, but in some <br />years the difference can be considerable. Temperatures, on the other hand are much more <br />consistent. <br />In 2015 between Jan 1 and July 6 precipitation was fairly normal for the early parts of the <br />period, but beginning near the start of April precipitation was extreme in comparison to the <br />long term records. By the end of the period Denver had received 11.53 inches while <br />Centennial had received 15.03 inches. This is basically for half of a year and if the trend <br />continues for the rest of the year the regional precipitation could reach as high as around 30 <br />inches. That is nearly twice the average annual precipitation. What are the possibilities of this <br />happening? Actually, they are pretty good. With a strong El Nino and a seemingly unending <br />string of closed upper level lows coming off the Pacific and working their way into Colorado, <br />the chances for an extremely wet year are good. Of course, this could all change rather <br />abruptly, but so long as the pattern persists the moisture will keep coming. <br />The effect of this is dramatic. The prairies are not showing much signs of going into mid <br />summer dormancy. Even short grass native species are huge this year. The general appearance <br />of the Lowry Range clearly shows the effects of this prodigious moisture with vigorous <br />growth and seed production. However, the effect at Coal Creek does not seem to be quite as <br />dramatic as it is in Denver where lawn and garden watering has become pretty much <br />pointless. Sometimes some spot watering of gardens is needed, but even the Kentucky <br />Bluegrass shows only minor amounts of slowing down its growth; normally by July this lawn <br />grass tends toward going dormant and exhibits much less growth even with watering. As <br />described elsewhere, the impact of all this moisture on the growth in the 2014 revegetation <br />area is amazing. Most important though is that with all the moisture the subsoils are <br />becoming or have become fully charged with moisture which should have considerable <br />benefit in producing high survival rates this winter and excellent growth next year even with <br />only normal precipitation. <br />2. Topsoiling - No topsoiling was done in the last year. <br />A. Locations of topsoiling - N/A. <br />B. Depth of topsoiling - N/A. <br />C. Final grading of topsoiled lands - N/A. <br />Accommodation for drainage - Although the rains since April have been intense and <br />abundant, not a great deal of erosion has occurred on the year old reclamation area. Certainly <br />not as much as was expected. Nevertheless, some gully erosion has occurred on the lower <br />portions of the slope. These gullies clearly show where the water wants to drain off of the <br />slope. Without allowing this erosion to occur it would be very difficult to predict where the <br />erosion would occur and where control measures are needed. Now that is known, control <br />Status report for 2015 due July 15, 2015 Page 5 of 10 <br />