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CLIMATE INFORMATION <br /> of the crest of the divide receives an average of 82.7 inches of snow, more than twice as much as <br /> Colorado Springs just a few miles to the south. <br /> WIND: Wind in this area is highly variable. It is just outside the usual influence of the very <br /> high velocity Chinook winds of winter where velocities frequently exceed 50 miles per hour. The <br /> prevailing wind at this site is quite variable. The city itself has a north northeast prevailing wind, but <br /> just east of the city the prevailing wind is from the southwest. At the airport, winter winds are usually <br /> from the northwest but in summer they generally come from the south southwest, south, or southeast. <br /> EVAPORATION: A very steep gradient in evaporation exists across Colorado Springs. <br /> Northwest of the city average annual evaporation is about 45 inches while Fountain located southeast <br /> of the city has about 65 inches of evaporation per year. This site would have about 60 inches of <br /> evaporation per year, but with such a steep gradient across the city, years of low evaporation could be <br /> expected as well as years with very high evaporation. It is clear from this, that vegetation must be <br /> highly adapted to environments that exhibit high evaporation rates if long-term survival is expected. <br /> Furthermore, with such a high evaporation rate, soil development as influenced by illuviation- soil <br /> particle sorting as a result of precipitation exceeding evaporation- would be expected to be quite slow. <br /> SUMMARY: The climate of this site is characterized by dry winters, usually moist to wet <br /> summers, the possibility of severe thunderstorms but a low probability of ultra-severe thunderstorms, <br /> and a highly variable growing season duration. Very severe wind effects are not a significant factor, <br /> but strong Chinook winds can extend this far east and generate significant wind erosion. When <br /> coupled with low winter precipitation the presence of drying winds would indicate that drought <br /> resistant vegetation will exhibit the best long-term survival, even though the summers are often good <br /> and rarely limiting. Temperature,being somewhat lower on the average for a Front Range location, <br /> helps to reduce the effects of dryness in winter and render summer precipitation more effective. Of all <br /> the major Front Range Urban Corridor cities, Colorado Springs has a climate that is most favorable for <br /> land reclamation. That said, revegetation failures in some dry years are probably just as likely in <br /> Colorado Springs as they are anywhere else along the east slope of the Rocky Mountains. <br /> Perhaps the most important point derived from the examination of climate data is that the range <br /> of variation from year to year at any one location can be wide. Therefore,planning revegetation <br /> programs in this area need to account for a highly variable climatic pattern and include species of <br /> plants that are able to withstand both wet years and dry years. <br /> However, with regard to the specific location of the site, regional climatic patterns have only <br /> limited value. The fact is, because the site and its growing environment is strongly associated with <br /> sand deposits, the local effective climate is a dry one. Precipitation that does fall is often not very <br /> useful because it percolates well below the root zone rapidly. Therefore, the use of native soils that <br /> contain larger amounts of silt and clay sized particles is very important to success. This is further <br /> Daniels Sand Pit#2 Amendment (2008) Exhibit I Page 3 of 4 <br />