Southern Colorado Plateau Weather & Climate Inventory

Climate is important to almost every aspect of ecology and park management, and access to current and historical climate data is fundamental to our understanding of the status of ecosystems and species and their response to climate variability. Climate and weather monitoring efforts in the Southern Colorado Plateau Network provide summaries of climate data, such as precipitation and temperature, and help determine long-term trends in seasonal and annual patterns of climate parameters and soil moisture. This project was initiated to inventory these past and present climate monitoring efforts. It aims to consolidate information on weather stations, methods of data collection, and existing data sets, and to assess the adequacy of current weather station coverage.