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Alountain Coal Compan}~ 2000 Annual Hydrolog}' Report Wesl Eik Mine <br />extent to which the weather deviated from normal. For precipitation data, C/imato/ogica! Da[o <br />• jor Co%racJo, published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were used. <br />For the snow data, snow station data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service SNOTEL <br />information database was used. <br />Total precipitation measured at the Paonia 1 SW station for WY00 was 68% of normal -defined <br />by the 30-year average (1961-1990). For WY00, snowpack was 58% of average at the Overland <br />Reservoir snow station and 60% of the average at the McClure Pass Station. Figures 1 through 3 <br />show the monthly distribution of the precipitation measured at each of these three stations. <br />Hydrological Data <br />in addition to the climatological data, a water yeaz can be characterized by streamflow. The <br />major drainage basins in the vicinity of the West Elk Mine are the North Fork of the Gunnison <br />River (North Fork) and Minnesota Creek. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has gaging <br />stations on both of these streams. Both of these watersheds are large and the annual flow is <br />dominated by snowmelt from the higher elevations. Paonia Reservoir also affects the North Fork <br />flow regime. <br />To facilitate comparison of the WY00 streamflow data to the period of record, Figures 4 and 5 <br />were prepared. These graphs indicate that flow in both the North Fork drainage and in <br />Minnesota Creek were well below average in WY00, primarily due to the below average <br />snowpack noted above. <br />Annual runoff in the Norh Fork drainage was 70% of the long-term average, and in the <br />Minnesota Creek drainage, runoff was only 41% of the long-term average. For WY00, an <br />instantaneous peak discharge of 48 cfs was recorded on Minnesota Creek on May 24 and an <br />instantaneous peak discharge of 2,130 cfs was recorded on the North Fork on May 8. <br /> <br />83l -03?.550 Page 2 Wrrghl Wafer Engineers <br />