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8. Climate Climatic data for the proposed area was published in the Final Impact Statement, Northwest Colorado Coal (BLM, 1976). The following information is taken from that report. Air Movements: Cool air moves down the canyons in the early mornings and evenings and wazmer air moves up the canyons during afternoon. Average Wind Speed: 10 mph during the afternoons, 4 mph during the evenings. Stronger winds occur approximately 3 % of the time, mostly during winter and spring. Precipitation: 16-18 inches per year, primarily as winter snows. Average Temperatures: Average summer temperatures in July range from 44 to 86 degrees F. Winter temperatures during January range from 5 to 34 degrees F. Growing Season: The growing season is about 90 days. Vegetation There are two major plant communities present in the proposed azea: Sagebrush and Mountain Shrub. There are no cleaz breaks from one plant community to the next, however, at higher elevations, the Mountain Shrub community is prominent, at mid level elevations there is roughly an equal mix, and at lower elevations the Sagebrush community is prominent. The sagebrush species and other plant species associated with them in the proposed area include big sagebrush, snowberry, rabbit brush, western wheatgrass and mountain brome. Common shrubs present in the Mountain Shrub communities aze serviceberry, oak, mountain mahogany, bitter brush, chokecherry, snowberry, and wood's rose. The understory is comprised of western wheatgrass, bluegrass and mountain brome as dominants. At the highest elevations, on moist North facing slopes and in drainages, small stands of aspens may be present. No significant areas of noxious weds have been located; and less than 0.02 percent of all the plants present are selenium indicators. Also, no rare or endangered plants have been found. N:\CCC_ENGVDAN\DMG\NOI DOC\p5NO1\06 NOI Textdoc 1027/05