2016-02-03_PERMIT FILE - C1981038 ‎(2)‎

• Permit No: C1981038
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 2/3/2016
• Section_Exhibit Name: Volume 1 2.04 Environmental Resources
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

42.04 APPLICATION FOR PERMIT FOR SURFACE OR UNDERGROUND MINING ACTIVITIES --
MINIMOM REQUIREMENTS FOR INFORMATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESOIIRCES.
2.04.8 Climatological Information.
(1) Climatic Characteristics of the North Fork Valley (Cont'd.)
influenced by topography. To understand the climate of the
region, it may be of more value to evaluate the large and
small scale climatic controls than to Look at statistics only.
A description of these controls has been prepared by Dr. Wil-
liam Marlatt, Professor of Bioclimatology at Colorado State
University and consultant to Colorado Westmoreland Inc. on
climate and air quality. He reports:
or Climatic Controls:
The macro or large-scale climate of any region on earth may be
described by eight fundamental climatic controls: 1) lati-
tude; 2) continentality; 3) elevation; 4) air mass transport;
5) topography; and 6) position with respect to storm tracks
and air mass transport. These, in turn, relate to the posi-
tion and strength of ocean currents which, although more than
1200 miles to the west, greatly affect the characteristics of
air masses and storms that pass over the North Fork airshed.
For example, major shifts in location of warm ocean currents
• in the mid-Pacific resulted in an extremely dry winter in [he
western half of the country in 1976-77 and record cold and
snow in the Great Lakes area.
As a result of these controls, the climate of Delta County
ranges from almost desert to steppe, to high elevation mon-
tane. Precipitation is strongly influenced by topographic up-
lifting of air, resulting in very steep gradients of both
rainfall and snowfall across the country. Tdinds are generally
from the southwest above the friction layer with strong winds
normally occurring only at mountain-top level for periods as-
sociated with major storm passage. Sunshine is abundant and
relative humidities generally are very low. Diurnal and annu-
al temperature ranges are quite large.
(a) The distance from major moisture sources is a limiting
factor in the amount of winter precipitation. Since
the nearest moisture source is a thousand miles and
several mountain ranges to the west, the air arriving
from that direction is normally quite dry and even ma-
jor storms require considerable topographic Lifting of
the surface air to produce significant amounts of pre-
cipitation.
Revised 10/01/87
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