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• Colorado as most areas, except the higher elevations and <br />extreme eastern part of the state, have a very distinct dry <br />period during June, July, or August. Denver, for example, <br />shows a pronounced drought period from mid-June to October. <br />This precipitation-temperature pattern for Colorado Springs <br />is most similar to the pattern seen in extreme eastern <br />Colorado (e.g. Burlington), except the relative humidity at <br />Colorado Springs is much lower than along the Kansas border. <br />This would indicate an advantageous climate for <br />revegetation, except that much of that summer precipitation <br />commonly occurs in severe thunderstorms rather than slow <br />rains. For this reason erosion is important and the plants <br />may also be subjected to short periods of extreme moisture <br />stress. This, in part, explains why much of the vegetation, <br />except for north facing slopes, is more characteristic of <br />drier, less favorable climates than the <br />precipitation-temperature analysis itself would indicate. <br />The number of below average precipitation years usually <br />exceeds the number of above average precipitation years in <br />semi-arid and arid climates. This is also true of Colorado <br />Springs although not as extreme as most areas of Colorado. <br />For Colorado Springs 54% of the years are below average and <br />20% of the years are more than 3.88" below normal. Wet <br />years are usually much wetter than average by as much as 5 <br />• to 10 inches. <br />D1ost often dry years come in sequences of 2 or 3 years <br />at a time separated by 2 to 4 years of near normal to above <br />normal precipitation. Other years tend to vary around the <br />mean. Very dry years occur about every 10 to 12 years. <br />From the records it can be assumed that the next 2 to 3 <br />years may show a decline in precipitation. <br />The foregoing description of the Colorado Springs <br />climate applies strictly to the city and the weather <br />station. The site itself may well be about 1 degree F <br />warmer than the city over an annual average, but <br />precipitation probably is about the same. This effectively <br />makes for a slightly more arid climate which is borne out by <br />the presence of Opuntia arborescens which is a cactus that <br />is a very sensitive in icator o a rupt changes in moisture <br />gradients. In effect the site is more arid than the city <br />and this will undoubtedly have some influence on the rate of <br />vegetation development and success of seedings. <br /> <br />- 38 - <br />