National Park Service

Climate Monitoring in the Northern Colorado Plateau Network: Annual Report 2007 National Park Service

This report documents monthly and annual climate summaries, as well as climatic extremes, for weather stations located in Northern Colorado Plateau Inventory and Monitoring Network (NCPN) park units for the year 2007. Mean annual maximum and minimum temperature tended to be above average throughout much of the NCPN region in 2007. Total precipitation was below average for about half of the 16 stations with valid 2007 totals. Snowfall was noticeably below long-term averages. Diff erences between long-term means and average annual temperature (mini-mum and maximum), and total precipitation (rain precipitation and snowfall) measures for 2007 were not related to the elevation gradient of stations. A general increase over the past 25?46 years in the 4-year composite, moving mean for mean annual minimum temperature is evident for most of the National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) weather stations located in the NCPN. Conversely, there is evidence for a declining trend in snowfall over the past 20?25 years. Historical records for NCPN COOP stations indicate that annual precipitation has been highly variable, and that a strong unidirectional trend over the observation periods (20?41 years) is not readily evident.