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SECTION 2.04.8 <br />CLIMATOLOGICAL INFORMATION <br />There is no weather station at the New Horizon Mine or in Nucla. There are two weather <br />stations location at the Hopkins Field - Montrose County Airport located about four mines to the <br />south of the New Horizon Mine. One of these weather stations is an AWOS system which, <br />according to Robert Johnson, the Airport Manager, generates only real time weather information <br />for the pilots using this site and there is no historic weather information available for this weather <br />station. There is also a Fire Weather Station which is operated by the BLM Norwood Office, but <br />consultation with this office reveals that this data is only collected during the summer months <br />and has so many gaps in it that it is unreliable. <br />The closest official weather station to the New Horizon Mine Area is located at Uravan. <br />According to the information posted at the Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC) website <br />located at www.wrcc.dri.edu this station operated from 17 November 1960 through 31 May 2009 <br />and resulted in a total of 17,504 observation days of climatological data being collected. This <br />site is located approximately eight miles to the north - northwest of the New Horizon Mine site <br />and is located at an elevation of 5,010 feet. The elevation of the proposed New Horizon North <br />Mine Area averages approximately 5,700 feet elevation. There is also another weather station <br />located at Norwood, but since this station is located approximately 10 miles to the south - <br />southeast and is located at an elevation of 7,020 feet. Examination of the Norwood site reveals <br />that this location possesses a different vegetation type and since it is significantly higher in <br />elevation it was determined that the Uravan data is more representative of the proposed North <br />Adjacent Mine Expansion Area and this data will be used to characterize the climatological <br />conditions for this site. <br />Precipitation. The average monthly and average yearly precipitation for the Uravan site are <br />presented in Table 2.04.8 - Climatological Information. The data show that the highest <br />precipitation months are the summer months July through September. This precipitation is <br />attributed to the "summer monsoon" effect where storm patterns original from the southwest. <br />Wind. There has been no wind information collected at the Uravan weather station and the <br />closest information is from Grand Junction located approximately 90 miles to the north. The <br />monthly average wind direction and wind speeds are presented in Table 2.04.8 - Climatological <br />Information. <br />Temperature. The mean monthly temperature data along with the maximum and minimum <br />monthly temperature information from the Uravan weather station are presented in Table 2.04.8 - <br />Climatological Information. <br />Section 2.04.8 Page 1 April 2011 <br />