Summer surface flow characteristics over northeast Colorado.

Abstract

Surface wind data from the Program for Regional Observing and Forecasting Services (PROFS) have been analyzed to investigate the diurnal wind flow pattern over the broad drainage area of the South Platte River in northeast Colorado. A consistent diurnal pattern appears in monthly averages as well as on most undisturbed individual days, and is similar to the classic descriptions of mountain-valley wind flows. It is observed that rather than occurring simultaneously at all elevations, downslope-to-upslope and upslope-to-downslope surface flow transitions along the Front Range of northeast Colorado begin near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and propagate eastward across the plains.-from Authors