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month with an average of 12.2 mph from the north. • Abundant sunshine is a prominent aspect of the climate with an average of 130 clear, 119 partly cloudy days per year. The cloudiest months are March, April, and May and the clearest is October. During the summer months partly cloudy skies are the rule. Examination of a combined precipitation-temperature analysis clearly demonstrates that drought periods are, using annual averages, uncommon except in the autumn when they may occur. This is evident because the wettest months occur during the hottest months. This is unusual in Colorado as most areas, except the higher elevations and extreme eastern part of the state, have a very distinct dry period during June, July and August. Denver, for example, shows a pronounced 3rought period from mid-June to October. The precipitation-temperature pattern for • Colorado Springs is most similar to the pattern seen in extreme eastern Colorado (e.g. Burlington). This indicates a very advanta3eous climate for reclamation, except that much of that summer precipitation commonly occurs in severe thunderstorms rather than slow rains. For this reason erosion control is important and the plants may also be su:~jected to short periods of extreme moisture stress. This, in part, ~=_xplains why much of the vegetation, except for north facing slopes, is characteristic of drier, less favorable climates than the, precipitation-'temperature analysis itself would indicate. (Table 1 and Figure 1) The number of below average precipitation years usually exceeds _ the number of above average precipitation years in semi-ar.id and arid climates. This is also true of Colorado Springs although tot as extreme as most areas of Colorado. For Colorado Springs 54$ of the years are below average and 20g of the years are more than 3.88" below normal. wet years are usually much wetter than average by as much as 5 to 10 inches. S-K-2