This section gives an overview of climate for Lower Rio Chama (Below Abiquiu dam). In order to understand the climatic conditions, historical and projected data were analyzed.
Historical Climate
Climate, one of the physical characteristics of watershed, influence the several other aspects of watersheds like hydrology, ecology, biology, socio-economic condition, etc. Historical data enables to understand the trend of climate shifting or changing at different phase. Historical data for COOP weather station located below Abiquiu dam were collected. The data were collected for surface air temperature and precipitation.
Projected climate
Several studies were done to predict how the climate will shift in future on the basis of emission rate predicted by the study of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In this study, downscaled projected climate data were represented in graphs to analyze the change in temperature, precipitation, runoff, evapotranspiration, soil moisture content and snow water equivalent.