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CLIMATE INFORMATION (unchanged) <br />Precipitation <br />Temperature is important for determining the potential for plant growth, but precipitation is <br />even more important. Unlike temperature though, precipitation is a complex parameter. Important <br />in the consideration of precipitation is not only the amount received during the year, but what time <br />of year it arrives, the type of precipitation (drizzle or torrential downpour), and the variations from <br />year to year. All of these patterns are critical in determining the kind of vegetation that can survive <br />on a particular location. <br />Again, because there is no data for the site, data from Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Canon <br />City must be used on a combined average basis. Then projections and estimates are made for the <br />site itself. Figures 3 and 4 show the relevant data for each site. Figure 3 shows the data for the <br />average on a month by month basis throughout the year. This represents the average annual pattern <br />for each of the three data record locations. Figure 4 shows the variations from year to year. This is <br />important for determining what kind of long term extremes might be experienced on the site. <br />For the mean annual record (Figure 3) the general pattern for all three sites is similar. But <br />Colorado Springs shows much less pronounced variations during the early summer (June). During <br />that time of year moisture generally arrives from the east or southeast making Colorado Springs on <br />the windward side of Pikes Peak. Apparently, the Arkansas River Valley and perhaps Pikes Peak <br />causes a distinct dip in precipitation in Canon City during June while Pueblo, which receives more <br />of the easterly flow of moisture, remains nearly level. <br />The pronounced late summer peak at all three locations is the result of the normal <br />monsoonal flow from the south and southwest. North of Colorado Springs this late summer peak <br />does not usually occur as the Palmer Ridge tends to capture much of the monsoonal flow, leaving <br />Denver in a downslope airflow rainshadow. The slightly lower average precipitation in August in <br />Pueblo is probably due to its being less affected by orographic precipitation than either Canon City <br />or Colorado Springs. <br />During winter, precipitation is similar at all three locations and generally dry. This is mainly <br />due to winter precipitation being caused more by a blend of Pacific air and Polar air which often <br />creates stronger snowfall north of the Palmer Divide leaving Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Canon <br />City in somewhat of a "snow shadow" produced by both the Palmer Divide and Pikes Peak. <br />Figure 4 presents the long term record for Colorado Springs and Pueblo (no such records <br />could be found for Canon City). Both sites follow similar patterns, as would be expected. Drier <br />than average years tend to slightly outnumber wetter than average years, but there is no clearly <br />defined repetitive pattern evident in the data. For the most part it is an alternating pattern, that is, a <br />dry year is often followed by a wet year. In a few cases one site shows a series of wet or dry years, <br />but the other site, during the same period shows the alternating pattern. The most significant <br />deviation was in 1965 when Colorado Springs experienced a very wet year, but Pueblo, just 40 <br />miles away, was only slightly wetter than average. This kind of variation is usually created by a <br />few very large storms at one location but with such storms not impacting the other nearby location. <br />If the extreme storms are eliminated from the record, the pattern for 1965 in Colorado Springs <br />probably would have been similar to Pueblo, that is, slightly wetter than normal. <br />Table Mountain Quarry -Castle Concrete Company Exhibit K (Amendment 11 Page 3 <br />