Modeling the Spatial and Temporal Variation of 

Monthly and Seasonal Precipitation on the 

Nevada Test Site and Vicinity, 1960-2006 

Open-File Report 2007–1269 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

U.S. Geological Survey 
 

Modeling the Spatial and Temporal Variation of 

Monthly and Seasonal Precipitation on the 

Nevada Test Site and Vicinity, 1960-2006 

By Joan B. Blainey, Robert H. Webb, and Christopher S. Magirl 

Open-File Report 2007–1269 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

U.S. Geological Survey 

ii
iii

U.S. Department of the Interior 

DIRK KEMPTHORNE, Secretary 

U.S. Geological Survey 

Mark D. Myers, Director 

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 2007 

For product and ordering information: 

World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod 

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its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment: 

World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov 

Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS 

Suggested citation: 

Blainey, J.B., Webb, R.H., Magirl, C.S., 2007: Modeling the Spatial and Temporal Variation of Monthly and 

Seasonal Precipitation on the Nevada Test Site and Vicinity, 1960-2006: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File 

Report 2007-1269, p. 40 

Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply 

endorsement by the U.S. Government. 

Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual 

copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted material contained within this report. 
iv

Contents 

Abstract................................................................................................................................................................................1

Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................................1

Purpose and Scope ........................................................................................................................................................4

Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................................................4

Study Area ...........................................................................................................................................................................4

Geography and Topography .........................................................................................................................................4

Climate ..............................................................................................................................................................................4

Precipitation Data and Geospatial Characteristics......................................................................................................7

Data Sources and Quality .............................................................................................................................................7

Data Trends With Elevation and Position.................................................................................................................10

Time-Series Analysis ...................................................................................................................................................13

Multivariate Statistical Analyses...................................................................................................................................15

Results of Spatial Interpolation of Precipitation.........................................................................................................16

Period of Record Precipitation Averages ................................................................................................................16

Seasonal Precipitation for 1969, 1989, and 1998 .....................................................................................................21

Seasonal Coefficients of Variations ..........................................................................................................................26

Time Series at Specific Sites......................................................................................................................................31

Study Limitations ..............................................................................................................................................................32

Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................32

References Cited ..............................................................................................................................................................33

Figures 

Figure 1. Prominent topographic features illustrated with a hillshade model based on a 30-m digital 

elevation model and selected place names of the Nevada Test Site, Nevada. The Nevada Test Site 

boundary is outlined in black, and the Beatley plots are discussed in the text and on figure 15..........2

Figure 2. Locations of precipitation gages of the Nevada Test Site and vicinity, Nevada, illustrated with 30-

m digital elevation model (DEM) and hillshade based on the 30-m DEM. The precipitation gage 

symbol represents the data source. The model domain is the extent of the DEM...................................3

Figure 3. Mean annual precipitation at the Nevada Test Site presented by source of data and time period, 

as a function of elevation. ...................................................................................................................................6

Figure 4. Median monthly gage precipitation at the Nevada Test Site from 1960 to 2006. Error bars 

represent the 25th and 75th percentiles. .............................................................................................................6

Figure 5. Annual number of actively recording precipitation gages in the period of 1960 to 2006 for the 

Nevada Test Site. A. The average elevation of the active precipitation gage network is given in red. 

B. and C. The number of actively recording precipitation gages by data source.....................................8

Figure 6. Change in annual and seasonal precipitation with elevation for two periods of record on the 

Nevada Test Site. A. 1960 to 2006. B. 1992 to 1996........................................................................................11

Figure 7. Time series of annual precipitation on the Nevada Test Site from 1960 to 2006. The dashed line is 

the mean annual precipitation averaged over all the gages for the same time period, and the red 

squares represent the average elevation of the actively recording precipitation stations..................13
v

Figure 8. Time series of winter (November through April) and summer (May through October) season 

precipitation, an average of all the precipitation gages, from 1960 to 2006 for the Nevada Test Site.

................................................................................................................................................................................14

Figure 9. Time series of percent of winter season (November through April) and summer season (May 

through October) precipitation from 1960 to 2006 for the Nevada Test Site. Because the winter 

season starts November 1, the percentages are based on the sum of the winter and summer 

precipitation and therefore correspond to the year from November 1 through October 31.................15

Figure 10A. Average annual precipitation over the period from 1960 to 2006 for the Nevada Test Site. ......17

Figure 10B. Average winter season (November through April) precipitation over the period from 1960 to 

2006 for the Nevada Test Site...........................................................................................................................18

Figure 10C. Average summer season (May through October) precipitation over the period from 1960 to 

2006 for the Nevada Test Site...........................................................................................................................19

Figure 10D. Average winter season (November through April) precipitation as a percent of average 

annual precipitation over the period from 1960 to 2006 for the Nevada Test Site..................................20

Figure 11A. Winter season (November through April) precipitation for 1969, a wet year on the Nevada Test 

Site.........................................................................................................................................................................22

Figure 11B. Winter season (November through April) precipitation, as a percent of average winter 

precipitation, for 1969, a wet year on the Nevada Test Site. ......................................................................23

Figure 12A. Winter season (November through April) precipitation for 1998, a wet year for the Nevada 

Test Site................................................................................................................................................................24

Figure 12B. Winter season (November through April) precipitation for 1998, expressed as a percent of 

average winter precipitation, for the Nevada Test Site. .............................................................................25

Figure 13A. Annual precipitation for 1989, a year of severe drought, for the Nevada Test Site. ....................27

Figure 13B. Annual precipitation for 1989, expressed as a percent of average annual precipitation, for the 

Nevada Test Site.................................................................................................................................................28

Figure 14A. The coefficient of variation (CV) of winter season (November through April) precipitation for 

the Nevada Test Site..........................................................................................................................................29

Figure 14B. The coefficient of variation (CV) of summer season (May through October) precipitation for 

the Nevada Test Site..........................................................................................................................................30

Figure 15. Time series of annual precipitation from 1960 to 2006 for a high elevation (2,274 m, Beatley plot 

64), an intermediate elevation (1,245 m, Beatley plot 46), and a low elevation (961 m, Beatley plot 8) 

permanent ecological study plot on the Nevada Test Site. ........................................................................32

Tables 

Table 1. Regression equations for annual and seasonal precipitation as a function of climate-station 

elevation for two time periods on the Nevada Test Site (fig. 6). ................................................................12

Table 2. Regression equations for annual and seasonal precipitation as a function of climate-station 

position (n = 115 stations) on the Nevada Test Site. ....................................................................................12 

Appendix 

Table A1. Metadata for precipitation stations on or adjacent to the Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada. 

The only data used were from January 1, 1960, through December 31, 2006..........................................35
vi

Conversion Factors 

SI to Inch/Pound 

Multiply By To obtain 

Length 

centimeter (cm) 0.3937 inch (in.) 

millimeter (mm) 0.03937 inch (in.) 

kilometer (km) 0.6214 mile (mi) 

Area 

square kilometer (km2) 0.3861 square mile (mi2) 

Volume 

cubic meter (m3) 35.31 cubic foot (ft3) 

Mass 

gram (g) 0.03527 ounce, avoirdupois (oz) 

Vertical coordinate information is referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). 

Horizontal coordinate information is referenced to the North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27). 

 Abbreviations and Acronyms 

ARL-SORD Air Resource Laboratory Special Operations and Research Division, Department of Energy 

BECAMP Basic Environmental Compliance And Monitoring Program, Reynolds Electric and Engineering Company 

and Department of Energy 

CV Coefficient of Variation 

DEM Digital Elevation Model 

ENSO El Niño – Southern Oscillation 

GPS Geographic Positioning System 

NCDC National Climatic Data Center 

NDFF Nevada Desert FACE (Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment) Facility 

NTS Nevada Test Site, Department of Energy 

PDO Pacific Decadal Oscillation 

PRISM Parameter-Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes 

YMMP Yucca Mountain Meteorological Monitoring 

YMP Yucca Mountain Project, Department of Energy 
Modeling the Spatial and Temporal Variation 

of Monthly and Seasonal Precipitation on the 

Nevada Test Site and Vicinity, 1960-2006 

By Joan B. Blainey, Robert H. Webb, and Christopher S. Magirl 

Abstract 

The Nevada Test Site (NTS), located in the climatic transition zone between the Mojave 

and Great Basin Deserts, has a network of precipitation gages that is unusually dense for this 

region. This network measures monthly and seasonal variation in a landscape with diverse 

topography. Precipitation data from 125 climate stations on or near the NTS were used to spatially 

interpolate precipitation for each month during the period of 1960 through 2006 at high spatial 

resolution (30 m). The data were collected at climate stations using manual and/or automated 

techniques. The spatial interpolation method, applied to monthly accumulations of precipitation, is 

based on a distance-weighted multivariate regression between the amount of precipitation and the 

station location and elevation. This report summarizes the temporal and spatial characteristics of 

the available precipitation records for the period 1960 to 2006, examines the temporal and spatial 

variability of precipitation during the period of record, and discusses some extremes in seasonal 

precipitation on the NTS. 

Introduction 

High-resolution spatial interpolation of rainfall data is extremely useful in the mountainous 

areas of the western United States, where precipitation gages generally are widely dispersed (see 

http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/summary/Climsmnv.html). Some existing approaches, such as the 

Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM; Daly and others, 1994), 

use multivariate techniques to estimate regional patterns of precipitation at coarse spatial scales 

(typically 4 km). These methods are advantageous for scales on the order of states or continents 

because they take into account, among other things, rain-shadow effects, temperature inversions, 

distance from large surface water bodies, and group climate stations according to similarity, but in 

many cases their coarse resolution limits the applicability to specific sites or questions. 

Many landscape-scale analyses benefit from high-resolution climate data, particularly longterm ecological study plots. Long-term changes in permanent vegetation plots in the Mojave 

Desert, such as those on the Nevada Test Site (NTS, fig. 1), are caused by variation in annual or 

seasonal precipitation. This Department of Energy facility has a large number of climate stations 

(table A1, fig. 2), which provides sufficient data for relatively high-resolution estimations of 

seasonal precipitation that are essential for evaluating long-term vegetation change. In this report, 

we use a distance-weighted multiple-linear regression technique (Nalder and Wein, 1998) to 

estimate monthly precipitation, then combine monthly totals to obtain seasonal and annual 

1
precipitation for the NTS (fig. 1). We discuss the precipitation data for the period 1960 through 

2006, discuss our estimation technique, and provide examples of time series and spatial variability 

of seasonal and annual precipitation for the NTS and for specific permanent vegetation plot 

locations. We provide maps depicting selected wet and dry years, winters, and summers for the 

NTS and vicinity. 

Figure 1. Prominent topographic features illustrated with a hillshade model based on a 

30-m digital elevation model and selected place names of the Nevada Test Site, Nevada. 

The Nevada Test Site boundary is outlined in black, and the Beatley plots are discussed in 

the text and on figure 15. 

2
S

E

G

Air Resource Laboratory Special Operations and

Research Division (ARL-SORD)

Beatley

Flint and Davies

Nevada Desert FACE Facitlity (NDFF)

Basic Environmental Compliance And Monitoring

Program (BECAMP)

National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)

Yucca Mountain Meteorological Monitoring (YMMP)

Elevation, in meters (m)

Nevada Test Site boundary

Maximum: 2,570 m

Minimum: 690 m

1,000 m

2,000 m

1,500 m

2,500 m

Precipitation gage data source

± 116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°0'0"W

11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

37°20'0"N 37°20'0"N

0 10 20 Kilometers

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

#*

GF

#*

GF

GF

GF

GF

GF

GF

GF GF

GF GF

GF

GFGF

GFGF

GF

") ") ") ")

")

")

")

")

E

E

E

E

E

E

S

Figure 2. Locations of precipitation gages of the Nevada Test Site and vicinity, Nevada, 

illustrated with 30-m digital elevation model (DEM) and hillshade based on the 30-m DEM. 

The precipitation gage symbol represents the data source. The model domain is the 

extent of the DEM. 

3
Purpose and Scope 

The purpose of this report is to document the methods and data sources used to estimate 

annual and seasonal precipitation on the Nevada Test Site from 1960 through 2006. The time series 

of precipitation at each gage is examined with respect to seasonal precipitation and variability in 

annual precipitation. Changes in the gage network over the study period are examined to assess that 

influence on estimates of regional precipitation. We provide examples of point estimates of annual 

and seasonal precipitation as well as estimates for distributed precipitation at the NTS. 

Acknowledgements 

Phil Medica (USGS), Richard Hunter (Salisbury College, Maryland), and Paul Gregor 

(Bechtel Nevada) told us about the availability of the BECAMP data, accessed in files archived on 

the NTS. 

Study Area 

Geography and Topography 

The NTS encompasses about 3,567 square kilometers (km2) in southern Nevada (Nye 

County) and is bounded by latitudes 37°20’45” N and 36°40’43” N and by longitudes 116°34’20” 

W and 115°55’37” W (fig. 1). The NTS is approximately a rectangle 40 km wide (west-east) and 

80 km long (north-south). Precipitation on the NTS is strongly influenced by topography, with the 

highest elevations in the north (Rainer Mesa, 2,341 m) and lowest elevations near the southwest 

corner (819 m). Prominent low-elevation topographic features of the terrain include two large 

closed basins—Yucca and Frenchman Flats—bearing dry lakebeds (playas), and Jackass Flats, a 

broad area in the southwest of the NTS drained by 40-Mile Wash (fig. 1). Three large, relatively 

flat, and higher-elevation plateaus—Rainier, Buckboard, and Pahute Mesas—dominate the 

northwestern part of the NTS (fig. 1). 

We used a 30-m resolution digital-elevation model (DEM) of the topography of the NTS in 

our analyses. This 30-m DEM was obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Elevation 

Dataset (see U.S. Geological Survey, 1999). We also obtained 10-m DEMs (Kent Ostler, Bechtel 

Nevada, 2004), but we chose to use the less-accurate 30-m data because the computational 

requirements of using 10-m data would be beyond the computational power of normal personal 

computers for an area the size of the NTS. 

Climate 

The NTS spans the transition between the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts, and this 

transition is created by a strong variation in topography and climate. Climate at the NTS has been 

described in detail by Quiring (1968), French (1983a; 1983b), Spaulding (1985), and Soulé (2006). 

Three climatological processes create precipitation, the sum of accumulated rain and water 

produced by snowmelt, in the Mojave Desert (Hereford and others, 2004; 2006) and the NTS. 

Winter precipitation generally results from frontal systems bearing moisture from the North Pacific 

Ocean; wetter storms may be enhanced by moisture from the tropical Pacific Ocean. In the spring 

and fall, cutoff low-pressure systems advect tropical moisture in the region, which can result in 

considerable precipitation. Both of these sources of moisture are influenced by mountain masses, 

4
creating orographic effects of increasing precipitation with elevation (Spaulding, 1985). In the 

summer, local convective thunderstorms cause precipitation with high spatial variability (Hereford 

and others, 2004; 2006). Typically, moisture originates in either the Pacific Ocean – especially the 

Gulf of California – and (or) the Gulf of Mexico and is advected north during the North American 

monsoon. Summer precipitation can also result from low-pressure systems passing over the Great 

Basin to the north of the NTS (Quiring, 1968). Summer thunderstorms are characterized by 

widespread high intensity precipitation with durations on the order of hours. Some summer 

thunderstorms are associated with heavy rains, flash floods, and strong surface winds. The 

combined effects of moisture from the Gulfs of Mexico and California cause a general trend of 

increasing precipitation from west to east across southern Nevada (French, 1983a). 

Annual and winter precipitation is highly affected by hemispheric- or global-scale climate 

processes, especially the El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) (see discussion of ENSO effects 

in Hereford and others, 2004; 2006) which is defined by an oscillation of the ocean-atmosphere 

system, specifically persistent warm sea-surface temperatures, in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. 

Rainfall in the Southwest tends to be greatly increased in nearly all El Niño years, which generally 

have increased strength of westerly winds and increased sea-surface temperatures off the west coast 

of California. Examples of years with El Niño conditions include 1969, 1978, and 1983; persistent 

El Niño conditions occurred from about 1991 through 1995 and again from 1997 to 1998. In 

contrast, cooler ocean waters off California occur during La Niña years, which tend to induce 

drought. Examples of years with La Niña conditions and drought include 1989 and 2002. The 

influence of these large-scale processes on summer precipitation is unknown and difficult to 

determine because of the high spatial and temporal variability of summer precipitation in the 

Mojave Desert. 

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is another climate index known to reflect climatic 

processes affecting the Mojave Desert (Hereford and others, 2004; 2006) and the western United 

States. The PDO represents low-frequency fluctuations in the North Pacific Ocean occurring on a 

decadal-time scale (each phase lasting 10 to 30 years) and can be greatly influenced by phases in 

the ENSO. Generally, when the PDO is positive (e.g., 1977 to 1998; 2002 to present), the Mojave 

Desert tends to experience above-average precipitation; in contrast, when the PDO is negative (e.g., 

1947 to 1976; 1998 to 2002), the Mojave Desert tends to experience extended or short-term drought 

(Hereford and others, 2004; 2006). 

Annual precipitation at the highest elevations in the NTS averages about 330 mm and 

includes significant accumulation of snow. At lower elevations, annual precipitation typically 

ranges from 110 to 200 mm (fig. 3) and infrequent snow accumulations typically persist less than 

twenty-four hours (Bechtel Nevada, 2001). In general, snow frequently occurs above 1,800 m but is 

relatively rare for locations below 1,200 m (Soulé, 2006). At only six stations (see footnote in 

Appendix table A1) in the precipitation network record is snowfall recorded in addition to 

precipitation, and all these stations are at low elevation. Three of these stations, at elevations of 

665, 747, and 814 m, did not record snowfall over the period of record. Three stations recorded 

measurable snow (located at elevations of 952, 1,007, and, 1,082 m) between October and April. 

For these three stations, the highest average-monthly snowfall (41 mm) occurred in January, 

followed by December (12.5 mm). Assuming a snow density of 0.10 g/cm3

 (Dingman, 1994), these 

snow accumulations represent 32 percent and 13 percent of the total precipitation for January and 

February, respectively. Average accumulated snow during February, March, April, and November 

is similar, ranging from 4.2 to 6.8 mm which is an insignificant fraction of total precipitation, less 

than 6 percent. 

5
As previously discussed, precipitation is seasonally bimodal, with most of the precipitation 

occurring during the winter and summer. Little precipitation occurs during the periods of April 

Elevation (m)

600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400

Mean 

Annual Precipitation (mm)

100

150

200

250

300

350

Beatley Plots, 1963-1969

ALS-SORD, 1964-1969

BECAMP Data, 1964-1969

ALS-SORD, 1998-2004

YMP, 1998-2004

Figure 3. Mean annual precipitation at the Nevada Test Site presented by source of data 

and time period, as a function of elevation. 

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Monthly Precipitation (mm)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Figure 4. Median monthly gage precipitation at the Nevada Test Site from 1960 to 2006. 

Error bars represent the 25th and 75th percentiles. 

through June and September through October (fig. 4). Winter precipitation, between November and 

April, accounts for 63 percent of the average annual precipitation on the NTS. Summer 

6
precipitation, between July and August, accounts for 12 percent of average annual precipitation. 

The driest months at the NTS are May and June (fig. 4), which have average precipitation 

accumulations of 2.8 mm and 2.5 mm, respectively. February is the wettest month, receiving 12.2 

mm of precipitation on average; it is also the month with the highest variability in precipitation (fig. 

4). 

Precipitation Data and Geospatial Characteristics 

A total of 125 precipitation gages recorded a year or more of data between 1960 and 2006 

(fig. 2). The locations of climate stations and the sources of the data are given in the Appendix 

(table A1). Although the stations are referred to as precipitation gages, the vast majority of the 

gages record only rainfall. From 1960 through 2006, as many as 91 precipitation gages actively 

recorded during a single year (fig. 5). This represents a maximum gage density equivalence of 1 

gage per 39 km2 and results from data at 68 permanent ecological study plots established by Janice 

C. Beatley and measured between 1963 and 1973 (Webb and others, 2003). During most of the 

period of record, however, the gage density equivalence is about 1 gage per 142 km2

, with typically 

about 20 precipitation stations collecting data (fig. 5). The minimum gage density occurred during 

the period of 1960 to 1962 when 8 or fewer gages in the station network were actively recording. 

Data Sources and Quality 

Precipitation data were obtained from several sources (table A1, fig. 2) and represent a wide 

range of temporal scales for each month between January 1960 and December 2006. All data were 

obtained from publicly accessible websites with the exception of some data from the National 

Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Data from NCDC stations (National Climatic Data Center, 2003) 

that have not undergone quality control checks are available on the internet from the Western 

Regional Climate Center (http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/summary/Climsmnv.html). Geospatial data for 

many of the sites were obtained from station metadata available from the source. We used several 

different types of hand-held global positioning system (GPS) units to determine the locations and 

elevations of unpublished climate data sets, such as those established by Beatley (see below). In 

those cases, our data generally had an estimated position error of ± 4-6 m using a World Geodetic 

System (WGS) 84 coordinate system. For all climate stations, we checked elevations acquired from 

7
Number of Active Stations

0

20

40

60

80

100

Number of Active Stations

Average Network Elevation (m)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Average Elevation of Network

A.

Number of Active Stations

ARL-SORD Stations

Beatley plots

YMMM Stations

B.

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Number of Active Stations

0

2

4

6

8

10

BECAMP Stations

NDFF Facility

Flint and Davies (1997)

NCDC Stations

C.

0

20

40

60

80

Figure 5. Annual number of actively recording precipitation gages in the period of 1960 to 

2006 for the Nevada Test Site. A. The average elevation of the active precipitation gage 

network is given in red. B. and C. The number of actively recording precipitation gages by 

data source. 

8
the station metadata or using handheld GPS units with the elevation reported for that location on 

the 10-m digital-elevation model. Where significant differences were noted, we recollected data in 

the field using handheld GPS units. 

The data for six precipitation stations from the NCDC Summary of the Day database were 

aggregated into monthly totals. Precipitation was measured in increments of 0.25 mm or reported as 

trace precipitation of less than 0.13 mm. Trace amounts of precipitation were set equal to zero for 

subsequent analyses. These are the only stations that recorded both rainfall and snowfall. 

Six NCDC stations (table A1) were incorporated in the NTS precipitation network over the 

period 1960 to 2006 (fig. 5C). The stations Amargosa Farms Garey and Lathrop Wells are 

southwest of the NTS in a low-elevation portion of the modeling domain (fig. 2). The Beatty and 

Beatty 8 N stations are about 5 km west of the western boundary of the modeling domain and are 

the western-most climate stations in the network. The lowest-elevation station – Lathrop Wells 16 

SSE – is about 9 km south of the modeling domain at 665.1 m elevation. The Indian Springs 

station, the eastern-most precipitation gage, is approximately 13 km east of the eastern boundary of 

the modeling domain. 

Precipitation was measured at Beatley vegetation plots from 1963 through 1972 (Webb and 

others, 2003). An above-ground funnel collected precipitation that was stored in an underground 

storage gage with a small amount of added oil to minimize evaporation. The storage gage was 

emptied and measured periodically (approximately every 2 weeks). We aggregated these data into 

monthly precipitation using methods discussed in Webb and others (2003). Most of the 68 Beatley 

precipitation stations are located in the eastern and southern portion of the NTS (fig. 2). Between 

1987 and 1994, the Basic Environmental Compliance And Monitoring Program (BECAMP) also 

measured precipitation on the NTS (Hunter, 1994) using standard storage gages placed on posts at 

about 2-m height. Some of the 17 BECAMP gages are located within or adjacent to the Beatley 

plots (e.g., plots 3 and 46, fig. 1), extending the monthly precipitation record beyond 1972 at these 

sites. Several of the BECAMP gages are located on Pahute Mesa in the northern high elevation 

portion of the NTS (fig. 2); this area has a relatively low precipitation gage density. 

The Air Resource Laboratory, Special Operations and Research Division (ARL-SORD) is a 

cooperative project between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the 

Department of Energy that has collected climate data on the NTS since 1957. The 17 precipitation 

stations range in elevation between 939 m to 2,283 m (http://www.sord.nv.doe.gov/arlsord-1.htm) 

and are located throughout the NTS (fig. 2). The rain gages are storage gages with recording strip 

charts set to record for 1-week periods; however, in the mid-1990s, the recording strip charts were 

set to record for 30 days (Soulé, 2006) thereby lowering the data resolution. 

Yucca Mountain, a proposed high-level radiation waste-storage site on the southwestern 

side of NTS (fig. 1) operated by the Department of Energy, has monitored climate as part of its site 

characterization since the beginning of the project in the early 1980s. Between April 1987 and 

September 1997, Flint and Davies (1997) operated 5 weather stations at 8 sites on the NTS (fig. 2). 

The elevation of these sites ranged from 1,055 to 1,789 m. Tipping bucket rain gage data was 

collected every 10 seconds and averaged into 15 minute increments. The Yucca Mountain 

Meteorological Monitoring (YMMM) network consists of nine meteorological stations that collect 

daily precipitation (fig. 2). Data are available for these stations from December 1985 through 

December 2004 (http://www.ymp.dri.edu). 

Since 1996, precipitation events have been recorded at the Nevada Desert FACE (Free Air 

Carbon dioxide Enrichment) Facility (NDFF). Data are available for this station (https:// 

www.unlv.edu/Climate_Change_Research/NDFF/), which is located in Frenchman Flats; daily 

9
precipitation values are reported with a resolution of 0.1 mm. 

At the beginning of our analysis period in 1960, there were four actively recording 

precipitation gages in the network, and all four of these were NCDC stations. In 1963, the number 

of stations in the network greatly increased with the addition of the 68 gages on Beatley permanent 

plots (fig. 5A, fig. 5B). These stations were monitored until 1973, whereupon the number of 

actively recording gages in the network decreased to 20. The number of gages since 1973 increased 

slightly to 28 stations in 2004 and 18 stations at the end of the analysis period in December 2006. 

The large decrease in the number of actively recording precipitation gages from 26 in 2005 to 18 in 

2006 is a reflection that not all of the 2006 data have been quality checked and made publically 

available; no rapid changes to the precipitation network occurred during this period. 

The average elevation of the gages is a consideration for the data representation of the NTS 

in the multivariate extrapolation techniques. The elevation of precipitation stations ranges from 665 

m for a site south of the NTS to 2,283 m on Rainer Mesa in the north. The elevation of the DEM 

varies between 690 and 2,570 m (fig. 2), which indicates that the available climate data is 

appropriate for describing variation of precipitation, both annual and seasonal, on the NTS. Over 

the study period, the average elevation of the precipitation network varied between 1,229 m and 

1,382 m (fig. 5A). The maximum average precipitation network elevation occurred in 1960 when 

only a few stations were active. Based on the long-term relation between elevation and average 

annual precipitation (fig. 6A), an elevation difference of 153 m (the maximum change in the 

average precipitation network elevation over the study period 1960 to 2006) corresponds to a 

difference of 19.6 mm of average annual precipitation. 

Data Trends With Elevation and Position 

We used linear-regression techniques to evaluate the influence of elevation and geospatial 

position on annual and seasonal precipitation on the NTS. A simple linear regression (Freedman 

and others, 1998) takes the form of 

Y c aX = + , (1)

where Y = the dependent variable (precipitation total), c = a regression constant that is the x-axis 

intercept, X = the independent variable (e.g., elevation), and a = the independent variable constant 

that is the slope of the regression line. The regression coefficient r

2

 is a measure of goodness-of-fit 

that can be interpreted as the amount of variance explained by equation 1 (Freedman and others, 

1998). Finally, a standard error of estimate is the square root of the average sum-of-square residual 

deviations from the mean and is another measure of goodness-of-fit that depends on the accuracy of 

predictions made with the regression relation. 

Elevation has a strong influence on precipitation on the NTS (fig. 6A). For 115 stations 

reporting a minimum of 5 years of record on or adjacent to the NTS, we used equation 1 to estimate 

the relation between elevation and annual, winter, and summer precipitation (table 1). The elevation 

coefficient (slope) for winter precipitation (0.070) was more than 1.5 times that for summer 

precipitation (0.045), indicating a stronger orographic effect of increasing precipitation with 

elevation. This effect was more pronounced for annual precipitation, which had an elevation 

coefficient of 0.128 (table 1). 

10
E levation (m)

600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400

P recipitati

on (mm)

0

100

200

300

400

Annual P recipitation

W inter P recipitation

S ummer P recipitation

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

A. 1960-2006

B. 1992-1996

Figure 6. Change in annual and seasonal precipitation with elevation for two periods of 

record on the Nevada Test Site. A. 1960 to 2006. B. 1992 to 1996. 

The difference in orographic effect varies with time. For the period of 1992 through 1996, a 

period with a constant network of 19 climate stations and persistent El Niño conditions (Hereford 

and others, 2004; 2006), we again examined the relation between elevation and precipitation (fig. 

6B). For this time period, the regression coefficient r

2

 indicates that only 33 percent of the variance 

in annual precipitation can be explained by the linear dependence on elevation. The regression for 

winter precipitation is similar to that for annual precipitation, albeit with a slightly lower slope 

(0.055 versus 0.076; table 1). However, summer season precipitation, or precipitation that occurs 

during May to October, has less of an orographic dependence as indicated by an even lower slope 

(0.0207), which is less than half of the slope for average annual precipitation or winter season 

precipitation (table 1). 

11
Table 1. Regression equations for annual and seasonal precipitation as a function of 

climate-station elevation for two time periods on the Nevada Test Site (fig. 6). 

Season Number of 

stations n

Regression 

constant c

Elevation 

coefficient a

Regression 

coefficient r2

Standard 

error of 

estimate 

Time 

period 

1960-2006 Annual 115 9.612 0.128 0.67 28.42 

1960-2006 Winter 115 13.776 0.070 0.46 24.06 

1960-2006 Summer 115 -7.963 0.045 0.60 11.73 

1992-1996 Annual 19 80.072 0.0757 0.33 35.38 

1992-1996 Winter 19 77.631 0.055 0.27 29.83 

1992-1996 Summer 19 2.441 0.0207 0.32 10.04 

Precipitation varies little north-south and east-west on NTS, with less trend than the effect 

of elevation (table 2). Although the r

2

 values obtained by using equation 1 with latitude as the 

independent variable suggest that there is a statistically significant relation of increasing 

precipitation with increasing distance northward, the slope of the regression equation is very low; 

also, elevation generally increases northwards as well. No statistically significant relations were 

found between precipitation and east-west position on the NTS (table 2). These results, which show 

minimal trends in average precipitation with position on the NTS, show the strong influence of 

elevation and show that a multivariate approach to estimating monthly precipitation using position 

and elevation may not be compromised by drift imposed by the northing-easting data. 

Table 2. Regression equations for annual and seasonal precipitation as a function of 

climate-station position (n = 115 stations) on the Nevada Test Site. 

Season Independent 

variable 

Regression 

constant c

Coefficient a Regression 

coefficient r

2

Standard 

error of 

estimate 

Time 

period 

1960-2006 Annual Northing -6546 0.002 0.42 37.86 

1960-2006 Winter Northing -3107 0.001 0.22 28.96 

1960-2006 Summer Northing -2859 0.001 0.56 12.43 

1960-2006 Annual Easting 633 -0.001 0.06 35.38 

1960-2006 Winter Easting 519 -0.001 0.11 30.92 

1960-2006 Summer Easting 57.2 -0.000 0.00 18.63 

12
Time-Series Analysis 

On the basis of all the available rainfall data, the wettest three years on record were 1978 

(annual precipitation of 349 mm), 1983 (348 mm), and 1998 (343 mm) (fig. 7). During the period 

of 1978 through 1984, 5 of the 7 years had above-average precipitation; in contrast, both 1969 and 

1998 were preceded and followed by below-average years. The three driest years on record were 

2002 (annual precipitation of 44 mm), 1989 (54 mm), and 1964 (78 mm). Two of these driest years 

are parts of longer droughts that occurred from 1988 through 1991 and 1959 through 1964. For the 

period of record, above-average annual precipitation was recorded for 20 years, and below-average 

annual precipitation was recorded for 24 years (fig. 7). 

Annual Precipitation (mm)

Average Network Elevation (m)

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

0

100

200

300

400

500

Annual precipitation Average annual precipitation

800

1000

1200

1400

Average network elevation

Figure 7. Time series of annual precipitation on the Nevada Test Site from 1960 to 2006. 

The dashed line is the mean annual precipitation averaged over all the gages for the same 

time period, and the red squares represent the average elevation of the actively recording 

precipitation stations. 

13
The amount of seasonal precipitation varies from year to year, with winter precipitation 

generally mirroring annual precipitation and summer precipitation showing a different variation 

(fig. 8). During the five wettest years on record since 1960 (1965, 1969, 1978, 1983, and 1998), 

winter season precipitation varied from 57 to 88 percent of the annual precipitation. In some years, 

particularly 1964, 1972, 1977, 1989, and 1990, winter precipitation was below average and less 

than summer rainfall. Summer precipitation also was greater than winter season precipitation in 

some years when winter precipitation was at or above average (1976, 1984, and 1987). The time 

series data in figure 8 show that for at least some years, summer precipitation can be a high 

percentage of annual precipitation and therefore is a significant source of moisture to the ecosystem 

of the NTS. Although summer precipitation can be significant portion of annual precipitation, the 

timing, duration, and intensity of summer precipitation is distinct from winter precipitation which 

results in ecological differences for plant mortality and recruitment. 

The percentage of precipitation that occurs in each season varies annually (fig. 9). On 

average, for the extent of the network of climate stations, 61 percent of annual precipitation occurs 

in winter and 39 percent occurs in summer. During high-rainfall periods, particularly those 

associated with El Niño conditions, the percentage of winter precipitation is much higher (e.g., 

1978-1983, 1991-1995; fig. 9). During some drought years, notably 1989 and 1990 (fig. 9), the 

percentage of precipitation that occurs in summer is much higher than the percentage in winter. 

Persistence of the percentages of winter versus summer rainfall, particularly following 1978, is 

striking compared with the earlier part of the record and may have significant ecological 

consequences in terms of plant mortality and recruitment. 

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Precipitation (mm)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Winter precipitation

Summer precipitation

Average annual precipitation

Average summer precipitation

Average winter precipitation

Figure 8. Time series of winter (November through April) and summer (May through 

October) season precipitation, an average of all the precipitation gages, from 1960 to 

2006 for the Nevada Test Site. 

14
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Percent

of Precipitation

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent winter

Percent summer

Figure 9. Time series of percent of winter season (November through April) and summer 

season (May through October) precipitation from 1960 to 2006 for the Nevada Test Site. 

Because the winter season starts November 1, the percentages are based on the sum of 

the winter and summer precipitation and therefore correspond to the year from November 

1 through October 31. 

Multivariate Statistical Analyses 

Monthly precipitation data were spatially interpolated using a combination of multivariate 

regression of the geospatial position and inverse distance-square weighting (Nalder and Wein, 

1998). Although this technique was developed for northern Canada, it can be applied to any 

geographic region or climate regime. Nalder and Wein (1998) found that their method out 

performed other standard geostatistical techniques for estimating variables in space, including the 

better known techniques of kriging and co-kriging. Their method was shown to interpolate data 

more efficiently, which makes it highly desirable in the case of precipitation in the inter-mountain 

West. 

The technique of Nalder and Wein (1998) uses linear-regression coefficients fit to 

precipitation data for each month along north-south, east-west, and elevation gradients. These 

coefficients are used to weight the interpolation as follows: 

2

1

2

1

( ) () ()

1

N

i ix iy i

i i

N

i i

Z XX C YY C EE C

d

Z

d

=

=

+ − ×+−×+− ×

=

∑

∑

e

, (2)

where X and Xi

 are the easting of a grid cell and the easting of precipitation station i, Y and Yi are 

the northing of a grid cell and northing of precipitation station i, and E and Ei

 are the elevation of a 

grid cell the elevation of precipitation station i. Cx

, Cy, and Ce are the multiple linear-regression 

15
coefficients for easting, northing, and elevation, respectively. N is the number of precipitation 

stations and di

 is the distance between the node of a model grid cell and precipitation station i. 

 At each node of the 30-m DEM, this method interpolates between stations such that the 

precipitation between adjacent stations is most strongly influenced by the closest ones. The gradient 

plus inverse distance-square method (Nalder and Wein, 1998) defaults to the simpler inversedistance method if the regression fit is statistically insignificant. The validity of the precipitation 

estimates obtained with this method depends greatly on the structure of the spatial correlation of 

precipitation as recorded by the climate-station network. Consequently, the density of stations, the 

topographic gradients between stations, and precipitation gradients between stations has a large 

influence on the interpolated precipitation. 

For example, during the summer months, adjacent stations may record substantially 

different monthly precipitation due to small-scale convective thunderstorms that generate rainfall 

over a small (generally 2.5-25 km2) area. In this case, the gradient plus inverse distance-square 

method of interpolation results in a “bullseye” effect where precipitation estimates decrease rapidly 

in a radial manner with distance from the station that recorded high thunderstorm activity. The 

bullseye effect reflects the artificial smoothing of precipitation estimates relative to the local scale 

of the thunderstorm activity. The maps of interpolated precipitation may also look smooth because 

there is no local directional gradient. More complex spatial interpolation algorithms, such as those 

in the PRISM model (Daly and others, 1994), use directional gradients to account for effects such 

as rain shadows. However, the NTS is located a great distance from major mountain ranges, such as 

the Sierra Nevada, which is more than 350 km to the west and, consequently, rain shadow effects 

do not appear to exert a significant influence on the local distribution of precipitation. 

Results of Spatial Interpolation of Precipitation 

Period of Record Precipitation Averages 

Period of record (POR) climate averages are a common way of characterizing climate at a 

particular location or over a region (fig. 10). For some areas, POR climate averages may not reflect 

average conditions at a specific location as some climate events, such as the Pacific Decadal 

Oscillation, persist for periods of 20 to 30 years (Hereford and others, 2004; 2006). POR average 

annual precipitation was calculated by averaging interpolated monthly precipitation at each 30-m 

node over the period 1960 through 2006 for the NTS and vicinity. The smallest POR average 

annual precipitation occurs in the southwestern portion of the modeling domain in the Amargosa 

Desert (79 mm); the highest POR average annual precipitation (362 mm) occurs on Rainer Mesa 

and along the Belted Range on the northern boundary of the model domain (fig. 10). In general, the 

POR average precipitation reflects topography, which is expected given the strong orographic 

influences within the climate-station data (fig. 6). For example, Yucca Flat and Frenchman Flats, 

which are broad flat-lying topographic lows, have lower average annual precipitation than adjacent 

areas and also have low variability in average annual precipitation. Strong precipitation gradients 

indicative of the topography are also evident with average annual precipitation increasing from the 

western to eastern portion of the southern part of the NTS. Lack of such a gradient in the north 

helps to explain why regressions between annual precipitation and easting (table 2) are not 

statistically significant. 

16
±

0 10 20

Annual precipitation, in millimeters (mm)

Kilometers

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°0'0"W

11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

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Maximum: 362 mm

Minimum: 79 mm 100 mm

150 mm

200 mm

250 mm

350 mm 300 mm

Figure 10A. Average annual precipitation over the period from 1960 to 2006 for the 

Nevada Test Site. 

17
±

0 10 20

Winter precipitation, in millimeters (mm)

Kilometers

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°0'0"W

11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

37°20'0"N 37°20'0"N

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Maximum: 199 mm

Minimum: 56 mm

100 mm

150 mm

Figure 10B. Average winter season (November through April) precipitation over the 

period from 1960 to 2006 for the Nevada Test Site. 

18
±

0 10 20

Summer precipitation, in millimeters (mm)

Kilometers

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°0'0"W

11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

37°20'0"N 37°20'0"N

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Maximum: 183 mm

Minimum: 23 mm

50 mm

100 mm

150 mm

Figure 10C. Average summer season (May through October) precipitation over the 

period from 1960 to 2006 for the Nevada Test Site. 

19
±

0 10 20

Average winter precipitation as

Kilometers

percent of average annual precipitation

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W 116°0'0"W

!

116°20'0"W 11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

37°20'0"N 37°20'0"N

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0.49 - 0.55

0.55 - 0.60

0.60 - 0.65

0.65 - 0.70

0.70 - 0.73

Figure 10D. Average winter season (November through April) precipitation as a percent 

of average annual precipitation over the period from 1960 to 2006 for the Nevada Test 

Site. 

20
Like annual average precipitation, both average winter and summer precipitation are 

strongly dependent on elevation for the period of record. Most precipitation on the NTS occurs 

during the winter, and average winter precipitation ranges from 56 to 199 mm (fig. 10B) over the 

model domain. The average summer rainfall has less geographic variation and ranges from 23 to 

183 mm (fig. 10C). In the lower elevations, or southwestern portion of the model domain, 

particularly in the area south of Yucca Mountain, winter precipitation accounts for most of the 

average annual precipitation (about 70 to 73 percent) (fig. 10D). In contrast, winter precipitation 

accounts for only about 50 to 55 percent of average annual precipitation at higher elevations on 

Pahute Mesa in the northwestern portion of the model domain. 

Seasonal Precipitation for 1969, 1989, and 1998

We also examined the spatial variability of seasonal precipitation on the NTS for select 

years during which precipitation was atypical for the period of record. Winter precipitation was 

evaluated for 1969 and 1998, both years having above average precipitation (the 3rd and 4th 

wettest years during the period of record). A major drought occurred on the NTS from 1989 to 

1991; therefore, we created a map of annual precipitation for 1989 as an example of the spatial 

distribution of precipitation during such a drought. 

Winter precipitation during 1969 was more than 450 mm on the higher-elevation terrain in 

the north-central parts of the NTS (fig. 11A) and was well above average throughout the modeling 

domain, mostly ranging from 2 to 3 times that of average (fig. 11B). Winter precipitation during 

1969 was highest in the eastern one-third of the NTS, where it typically was greater than 250 

percent of the average winter precipitation. The difference between winter season precipitation 

during 1969 and average winter precipitation was largely independent of elevation; precipitation 

extremes occurred both in higher-elevation areas (west of the Belted Range) and in the lowelevation areas (e.g., Frenchman Flats). 

The distribution of precipitation during the winter seasons of 1969 and 1998 are 

significantly different due to a difference in storm types during the highest rainfall periods. For 

example, in February 1998, a procession of strong frontal systems crossed southern Nevada, 

leading to a relatively uniform coverage of precipitation across the NTS 

(http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/dwm/1998/19980202-19980208.djvu). In contrast, during February 

1969, a series of cutoff low-pressure systems with a few frontal systems crossed southern Nevada, 

leading to more spatially patchy precipitation across the NTS. During the winter of 1998, 

precipitation was as much as 375 mm at higher elevations, or less than what occurred in 1969, and 

generally 165-200 mm at lower elevations, which was more than what occurred during 1969 (fig. 

12A). The intermediate-elevation areas, including Jackass Flats and the area to its west and also in 

intermediate-elevation areas west of Buckboard Mesa, were mostly between 280 and 350 percent of 

the average winter precipitation (fig. 12B). By looking at 1998 winter precipitation as a percent of 

winter average (fig. 12B), it is evident that many of the high-elevation areas, particularly on Rainer 

Mesa and on the Belted Range, received less precipitation relative to the surrounding areas than 

would normally occur. The smallest increase in above normal winter season precipitation during 

1998 occurred northwest of Frenchman Flats and west of Yucca Flat, which are low- and 

intermediate-elevation areas, respectively, in the central and southeastern portion of the NTS. 

21
±

0 10 20

1969 winter precipitation,

 in millimeters (mm)

Kilometers

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°0'0"W

11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

37°20'0"N 37°20'0"N

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Maximum: 524 mm

Minimum: 6 mm

100 mm

200 mm

 300 mm

400 mm

 500 mm

Figure 11A. Winter season (November through April) precipitation for 1969, a wet y

on the Nevada Test Site. 

ear 

22
±

0 10 20

1969 winter precipitation,

as percent of winter average

Kilometers

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°0'0"W

11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

37°20'0"N 37°20'0"N

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Maximum: 351 %

Minimum: 5 %

100 %

300 %

200 %

Figure 11B. Winter season (November through April) precipitation, as a percent of 

average winter precipitation, for 1969, a wet year on the Nevada Test Site. 

23
±

0 10 20

1998 winter precipitation,

in millimeters (mm)

Kilometers

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°0'0"W

11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

37°20'0"N 37°20'0"N

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Maximum: 375 mm

200 mm

250 mm

350 mm

Minimum: 165 mm

300 mm

Figure 12A. Winter season (November through April) precipitation for 1998, a wet year 

for the Nevada Test Site. 

24
±

0 10 20 Kilometers

1998 winter precipitation,

as percent of winter average

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W 116°0'0"W

116°20'0"W 11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

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Maximum: 426 %

Minimum: 157 %

300 %

200 %

400 %

Figure 12B. Winter season (November through April) precipitation for 1998, expressed 

as a percent of average winter precipitation, for the Nevada Test Site. 

25
The drought of 1989 was pervasive, covering most of the NTS (fig. 13A), and particularly 

affecting winter precipitation. The drought was pronounced in the southwestern portion of the 

modeling domain. Low-elevation areas such as the Amargosa Desert and Crater Flat (fig. 1) 

received as little as 10 mm of annual precipitation. Parts of Yucca Mountain, at intermediate 

elevations, also experienced extreme drought with as little as 5 mm of annual precipitation. During 

this drought year, areas at lower elevations and further east than Yucca Mountain, such as 

Frenchman Flats, received about 26 mm of annual precipitation. 

Differences between annual precipitation during 1989 and average precipitation were 

strongly dependent on elevation. Annual precipitation for 1989 varied between 2 and 71 percent of 

average annual precipitation (fig. 13B). The greatest precipitation deficit, which resulted in 

precipitation that was about 5 to 10 percent of average annual precipitation, occurred in the vicinity 

of Yucca Mountain and west of Jackass Flats in the southwestern part of the NTS. Precipitation 

was closest to normal at higher-elevation areas in the northern part of the NTS, including Pahute 

Mesa, where precipitation was about 50 percent of normal. 

Seasonal Coefficients of Variations 

We examined temporal variability in precipitation by producing maps of the coefficient of 

variation (CV) for the winter and summer seasons (fig. 14) based on interpolated precipitation from 

1960 to 2006. The CV, defined as the standard deviation of a sample population divided by the 

mean of the sample, is one way of providing a meaningful comparison between sample populations 

(in this instance, precipitation at different locations). The CV is a useful statistic for comparing the 

degree of variation from one data series to another, even if the means of the data series are 

significantly different. 

For winter precipitation, the CV generally was lower in the northwest (generally higher 

elevation) and higher in the southeast (lower elevation; fig. 14A). Other than the general pattern, 

local elevation gradients seem relatively unimportant for the winter season rainfall CV. A large 

radial gradient, or “bullseye,” indicates an outlier precipitation gage located on Pahute Mesa. The 

winter season CV near the gage was significantly higher than the CV of surrounding areas. For 

winter season CV, most values ranged between 0.42 and 0.65 (95 percent confidence interval). 

Average summer season CV was equal to winter season CV with mean values of 0.54. 

However, summer season CV was more variable across the model domain as indicated by the 

larger 95 percent confidence interval of 0.36 to 0.71. Summer precipitation had a stronger 

northwest-southeast gradient with lower CVs in the northwest and higher CVs in the south and 

southeast (fig. 14B). Although local elevation gradients influence the summer season CV, there 

were also low relief areas with significant variability in CV. For example, there was a large 

gradient (0.56 to 1.04) for the summer season CV in the Amargosa Desert although there was little 

variation in elevation (less than 100 m) in this area. Note that the outlier precipitation gage for the 

winter season CV, which was located on Pahute Mesa, was not an outlier for the summer season 

CV. This indicates that the outlier was not likely due to a systematic problem such as an incorrect 

station elevation but rather a reflection of the winter season precipitation data at this station. 

26
±

0 10 20

1989 annual precipitation,

 in millimeters (mm)

Kilometers

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°0'0"W

11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

37°20'0"N 37°20'0"N

!

!!

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!!

!!

!

!

!

!! !

!

!!

! !

!!

!

!

!!

!

! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

! !

! !

!

!!

!!

!

!

!! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

Maximum: 185 mm

Minimum: 3 mm

50 mm

100 mm

150 mm

Figure 13A. Annual precipitation for 1989, a year of severe drought, for the Nevada Te

Site. 

st 

27
±

0 10 20

1989 annual precipitation,

as percent of annual average

Kilometers

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°0'0"W

11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

37°20'0"N 37°20'0"N

!

!!

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!!

!!

!

!

!

!! !

!

!!

! !

!!

!

!

!!

!

! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

! !

! !

!

!!

!!

!

!

!! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

Maximum: 71 %

Minimum: 2 %

10 %

50 %

30 %

70 %

Figure 13B. Annual precipitation for 1989, expressed as a percent of average annual 

precipitation, for the Nevada Test Site. 

28
±

0 10 20

coefficient of variation for winter precipitation

Kilometers

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°20'0"W

116°0'0"W

11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

37°20'0"N 37°20'0"N

!

!!

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!!

!!

!

!

!

!! !

!

!!

! !

!!

!

!

!!

!

! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

! !

! !

!

!!

!!

!

!

!! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

0.43 - 0.50

0.50 - 0.60

0.60 - 0.70

0.70 - 0.80

Figure 14A. The coefficient of variation (CV) of winter season (November through Apr

precipitation for the Nevada Test Site. 

il) 

29
±

0 10 20

coefficient of variation for summer precipitation

Kilometers

! Precipitation gage

Nevada Test Site boundary

116°40'0"W

116°40'0"W

116°20'0"W 116°0'0"W

37°20'0"N 37°20'0"N !

! !

116°20'0"W 11 W 6°0'0"

36°40'0"N 36°40'0"N

37°0'0"N 37°0'0"N

!

!!

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!!

!

!

!

!! !

!

!

!

! !

!!

!

!

!!

!

! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!!

!!

! !

!

!

! !

!

!

!!

!

!

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!! !

!

!

!

!

0.16 - 0.30

0.30 - 0.40

0.40 - 0.50

0.50 - 0.60

0.60 - 0.70

0.70 - 0.80

0.80 - 1.00

1.00 - 1.34

Figure 14B. The coefficient of variation (CV) of summer season (May through October) 

precipitation for the Nevada Test Site. 

30
Time Series at Specific Sites 

Permanent ecological study plots on the NTS have been measured at irregular intervals 

from 1963 through 2006 (Webb and others, 2003). The plots established by Janice Beatley had 

storage rainfall gages that recorded between 1963 and 1973, but for most plots, no precipitation 

data is available after 1973, requiring that precipitation be estimated from other sites. We used our 

interpolation technique to create time series of precipitation at three Beatley plots—plots 8, 46, and

64 (fig. 1)—that span the elevation range of NTS to show the usefulness of this technique in 

understanding the potential for climatic influence on vegetation. As shown in figure 15, these three 

plots, which range in elevation from 961 to 2,274 m, generally show the same interannual 

variability; all three plots show the same pattern of above- and below-average annual precipitatio

although the relative amounts exhibit a high amount of inter-annual variability. 

For the NTS in general, 1978 is the wettest winter on record by a wide margin (fig. 8), bu

1978, 1983, and 1998 have similar high annual precipitation (fig. 7). A similar pattern also occurs 

on the three Beatley plots (fig. 15), where 1969, 1978, and 1983 have the highest annual 

precipitation, followed closely by 1998. At Beatley plots 46 and 64, annual precipitation in 1969 i

the largest annual precipitation on record. In contrast, when all stations in the network were 

averaged, 1969 is the 4th wettest year on record. By comparing the observed and simulated 

precipit

n, 

t 

s 

cated 

th 

e 

ation at Beatley plot 64 with the adjacent active precipitation gage on Rainer Mesa, lo

within a distance of 1 km, it is evident that precipitation recorded during the winter of 1969 at 

Beatley plot 64 was much greater than that of the adjacent station. The simulated annual 

precipitation at Beatley plot 64 was 752 mm while a gage (100013) at a similar elevation of 2,283 

m, located on the eastern side of the ridge between the two gages, recorded 480 mm of 

precipitation. Monthly precipitation was recorded at Beatley plot 64 for each month of 1969 wi

the exception of February. Based on 11 months of precipitation data, the recorded annual 

precipitation at Beatley plot 64 was at least 670 mm. 

The drought of 1989-1991 is striking for these three plots; no other year in the record has as 

low an annual precipitation with as little variability with elevation as occurred in 1989, and the 3-

year period is unprecedented in the 47-year interpolated record. This type of data provides support 

for the contention that the nature of the 1989-1991 drought, which had devastating effects on som

plant species on the NTS (Webb and others, 2003), is unique to the historical record of precipitation

on the NTS. Another significant drought occurred during 2002. Like the drought of 1989-1991, 

lower than average precipitation occurred at low, mid, and high elevations on the NTS during 2002. 

31
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Precip o m itati n (m )

0

200

400

600

800

Beatley Plot 8

Beatley Plot 46

Beatley Plot 64

F

(2,274 m, Beatley plot 64), an intermediate elevation (1,245 m, Beatley plot 46), and a low 

t Site. 

e 

fr

w he high 

de tation 

co

lo

onclusions 

l 

tically robust technique was used to estimate annual and seasonal precipitation on 

the Nevada Test Site (NTS) at 30-m resolution, which is sufficient to allow reconstruction of 

igure 15. Time series of annual precipitation from 1960 to 2006 for a high elevation 

elevation (961 m, Beatley plot 8) permanent ecological study plot on the Nevada Tes

Study Limitations 

The quality of the spatial interpolation of precipitation described in this report is strongly 

dependent on the accuracy of the precipitation data at individual gages and on the density of th

gage network. Data were collected by different groups using different measurement devices, 

equencies of data collection, data-collection protocols, and quality assurance procedures. Due to 

data gaps and changes in the number and location of actively recording precipitation gages, the 

density of the gage network changes both temporally and spatially. The density of the gage network 

as insufficient to accurately represent small-scale thunderstorms with the exception of t

nsity network around Yucca Mountain. While the accuracy and reliability of the precipi

estimates presented in this report are dependent on the quality of the precipitation data, they are

also dependent on the interpolation schemes we used. In general, interpolation tends to produce 

smoothed estimates of precipitation. In addition to the precipitation data, the accuracy of the 

interpolation scheme also depends on the resolution of the DEM; as the DEM resolution increases, 

the elevation of the DEM becomes more accurate, which improves the precipitation estimates. A 

simple interpolation scheme was employed in this report. A more detailed interpolation scheme 

uld consider the location and direction of the precipitation gage relative to areas with significant

cal relief. 

C

High-resolution spatial models for interpolating precipitation are highly useful in the 

intermountain western United States, where networks of climate stations provide only sparse spatia

coverage. A statis

32
cli

rec

pre

be

of 

hought 

f vary 

ntly itu av i th e N

near-normal n w rs a rag

d ye r-no ecipitat ccur hig wh

drought occurs at lower elevations. With respect to evaluation of the causes of change in ecological 

s t on o chniqu gh-re n aps

e e on in e; for e hy h ele y not change as 

much in response to a drought period as lower-elevation sites. 

in hniqu es the r lue o t-te . F

calculation of mean annual precipitation and its interannual varianc cords of relatively 

l at erred. F onal int n, shor c pro

i t on for sp riods o at hel cre of 

within that region. Therefore, this technique incr data, which 

m i poral c but en e spa tia thin 

mountain West. 

References Cited 

Bechtel Nevada, 2001, Ecology of the Nevada Test Site: An annota hy, C. A. Wills 

and W. K. Ostler (eds.), DOE/NV/11718-594, Las Vegas, NV, 40

Daly, C., Neilson, R.P., and Phillips, D.L., 1 tatisti pog r m

climatological precipitation over mountainous terrain: Journal of Applied Meteorology, v. 33, p. 

8

D , , Physic ology: E od Cl ew ce H

Flint, A.L., and Davies, W.J., 

s untai a: U.S. cal S Op t 96-

Freedman, D., Pisani, R., and Purves, R., 1998, Statistics (3 edition): New York, W.W. Norton & 

n append

F reli analysis pitati ou : Water Resources 

Institute, DOE/NV/10162–10, 42 p. 

F b, Precipi southe

1023-1036. 

H , ., an pré, C.I recip h ojav

, 1 S. G al Surve heet 1 , 4

Hereford, R., W ecipit his tem

ec tion ity in th e Desert and v 3–2001 f 

Arid Environments, v. 67, p. 13-34. 

H s o nd faun evad t S : La

a, ent y, Nev ation e, V/1 77 

mate at specific sites of interest, including permanent ecological study plots where climatic 

ords are discontinuous. Using this technique, one can evaluate both the spatial variation of 

cipitation during a given year as well as a time series of precipitation over a region. An added 

nefit is the ability to calculate spatially distributed coefficients of variation, which give a measure 

the variation in reliability of precipitation over a region. 

This technique allows us to evaluate different types of years that might otherwise be t

o as “wet years” and “dry years.” As shown in our graphical maps, wet years can

significa in the magn

 precipitatio

de of abovehereas otheerage precip tation, wi

bove-ave

some parts of th

e amounts. The sam

TS with 

have greatly e is true of 

rought ars, where nea rmal pr ion can o at the hest elevations ile extreme 

tudy plo s, one applicati f this te e—the hi solutio precipitation m —can help to 

xplain r gional variati respons xample, w igher- vation sites ma

F ally, this tec e chang elative va f shor rm climate data

e, climate re

or stable 

ong dur ion are pref or regi erpolatio t-term limate stations vide 

mportan informati ecific pe f time th

eases the im

p to de

portance of short-term

ase the amount uncertainty

ay prov de poor tem overage hances th rse spa l coverage wi the interted bibliograp

0 p. 

994, A s cal-to raphic model fo apping 

140-15 . 

ingman S.L., 1994 al Hydr

1997, Meteorological data for water 

nglewo iffs, N Jersey, Prenti all, 575 p. 

years 1988-94 from five weather 

station at Yucca Mo n, Nevad Geologi urvey 

rd

en-File Repor 462, 10 p. 

Compa y, 578 p. + ices. 

rench, R

Center, Desert Research 

.H., 1983a, A p minary of preci on in s thern Nevada

rench, R.H., 1983 tation in rn Nevada: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, v. 109, p. 

ereford R., Webb, R.H d Long ., 2004, P itation istory of the M e Desert 

region 893-2001: U.

ebb, R.H., and Longpré, C., 2006, Pr

eologic y Fact S 17-03

ation 

 p. 

tory and ecosys response to 

multid adal precipita variabil e Mojav icinity, 189 : Journal o

unter, R.B., 1994, Statu f flora a a on the N a Tes ite, 1989-1991

E/N

s Vegas, 

Nevad

p. 

 U.S. Departm of Energ ada Oper s Offic Report DO 1432-57, 3

33
N I.A., and Wein, R.W., 1998, Spatial interpolation of climatic normals: Test of a new 

m od in the Canadian boreal forest: Agricultural and Forest Me 2, p. 211-225. 

National Clim

a e S of the ville, C al C ta 

, w1 aa.gov /docum ibr 00.

Quiring, R.F., 1968, Climatological data, Nevada Test Site and Nuclear Rocket Development 

: l Sc ervice A ration, D f Comm A 

 ARL-7, Las Vegas, Nevada, 34 p. 

Soulé, D.A., 2006, Climatology of the Nevada Test Site: S O ese on 

) emo SORD Natio ea pher

Administration, Las Vegas, Nevada, 171 p. 

e.go e/Clima f_Th ada .Soule.p

Spaulding, W. G., 1985, Vegetation and clim

a h-ce vada: U ogica ey ape . 

U.S. Geological Survey, 1999, National Elevation Dataset: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 148-

99, http://ned.usgs.gov. 

W .H ., E .C., Bo , DeF .A D.F., Ol ., 

e on ada Te ye Co Ne log 

Fi 36, 

alder, 

eth teorology, v. 9

atic Data Center, 2003, Data docum

ily Cooperativ

entation for Data Set 3200 (DSI-3200), Surface 

Land D ummary Day: Ash North arolina, Nation

td32

limatic Da

Center p. 18, http://ww .ncdc.no /pub/data entl ary/tddoc/ pdf. 

Station Environmenta iences S dminist U.S. epartment o erce, ESS

Technical Memorandum

pecial perations and R

mos

arch Divisi

(SORD , Technical M randum 2006-3, nal Oc nic and At ic 

http://www.sord.nv.do v/climat tology_o e_Nev _Test_Site df. 

ates of the last 45,000 years in the vicinity of the 

Nevad Test Site, sout ntral Ne .S. Geol l Surv Professional P r 1329, 55p

ebb, R ., Murov, M.B sque, T yer, D.E. alco, L ., Haines, dershaw, D

Scoles, S.J., Thom

From P

as, K.A., Blainey, J.B., a

rmanent Plots

nd Medica, P.A., 2003, Perennial Vegetation Data 

The Nev st Site, N unty, vada: U.S. Geo ical Survey

Open- le Report 03-3 251 p. 

34
A n

T 1 r pr ion sta or adjacent to the Nevada Test Site, Nye 

County, Nevada. The only data used were fr

2

n CDC or our un gned nu . Th are AR r 

Resource Laboratory Special Operations Research Division (http://www.sord tm); 

E a c by Janice (Web he MP, u a 

in the files of the Basic Environmental Compliance And Monitoring Program lso see Soulé, 2006); 

l 97; evada De (Free bon ment)

(https://www.unlv.edu/Climate_Change_Research/NDFF/); NCDC, National nter (see 

w umm mnv.html , Yuc nta gical Mon

(http://www.ymp.dri.edu/index.html). Many stations have isolated month(s) o

Station Station Name UTM NAD 27 

ng 

UTM NAD 27 

Z11 northing 

Elevation 

(m

 Data Source 

ppe dix 

able A . Metadata fo ecipitat tions on

om January 1, 1960, through December 31, 

006. 

[Statio ID is either the N number iquely assi mbers e data sources 

.nv.doe.gov/arlsord-1.h

L-SORD, Ai

BEATL Y, unpublished dat ollected C. Beatley b and ot rs, 2003); BECA

 archives, NTS (a

npublished dat

F&D, F int and Davies, 19 NDFF, N sert FACE Air Car dioxide Enrich

 Climatic Data Ce

 Facility 

http://w w.wrcc.dri.edu/s ary/Clims ); YMMM ca Mou in Meteorolo

f missing data.] 

itoring 

Z11 easti eters) 

Period of Record

ID 

100001 40 Mile Canyon 563357 4100361 1,469 ARL-SORD 

North 

February 1960- 

January 2007 

100002 Area 06 (South) 586028 4083950 1,131 ARL-SORD 

100003 Buster Jangle 584239 4102053 1,241 ARL-SORD 

100004 Cane Springs 579559 4074210 1,219 ARL-SORD 

100005 Desert Rock 587109 4053082 991 ARL-SORD 

100006 E Tunnel 570906 4116230 1,905 ARL-SORD 

100007 Jackass Flats 563452 4071024 1,043 ARL-SORD 

100008 Little Feller 2 561843 4107992 1,561 ARL-SORD 

100009 Mercury 587728 4058111 1,149 ARL-SORD 

100010 Mid Valley 573706 4091939 1,421 ARL-SORD 

100011 Pahute Mesa 1 549887 4122427 1,997 ARL-SORD 

100012 PHS Farm 585309 4118275 1,392 ARL-SORD 

100013 Rainier Mesa 569649 4116158 2,283 ARL-SORD 

100014 Rock Valley 572170 4060062 1,036 ARL-SORD 

100015 Tippipah Spring 571899 4100860 1,518 ARL-SORD 

February 1997- 

January 2007 

February 1960- 

January 2007 

September 1964- 

January 2007 

October 1963- 

January 2007 

December 1996- 

January 2007 

January 1958- 

January 2007 

August 1976- 

January 2007 

April 1962- 

October 1963, 

March 1971 - 

January 2007 

September 1964- 

January 2007 

January 1964- 

January 2007 

October 1964- 

January 2007 

January 1960- 

January 2007 

March 1963- 

January 2007 

May 1960- 

2 January 2007 

35
Station 

ID 

Station Name UTM NAD 27 

Z11 easting 

UTM NAD 27 

Z11 northing 

Elevation 

(meters) 

Period of Record Data Source 

100016 Well 5B 592307 4073198 939 October 1962- ARL-SORD 

January 2007 

100017 Yucca Dry Lake 584801 4090255 1,196 ARL-SORD 

200001 Beatley Plot 01 586161 4055122 1,020 BEATLEY 

200002 Beatley Plot 02 577878 4058342 1,082 BEATLEY 

200003 Beatley Plot 03 572505 4060647 1,035 BEATLEY 

200004 Beatley Plot 04 573690 4061459 1,049 BEATLEY 

200005 Beatley Plot 05 567230 4067091 1,114 BEATLEY 

200006 Beatley Plot 06 565813 4069462 1,075 BEATLEY 

200007 Beatley Plot 07 557463 4064520 979 

2 

BEATLEY 

200008 Beatley Plot 08 555765 4067591 961 BEATLEY 

200009 lot 09 556740 4071993 1,009 

72 

BEATLEY 

200010 Beatley Plot 10 560870 4072134 1,051 BEATLEY 

200011 Beatley Plot 11 565918 4076930 1,202 

72 

BEATLEY 

200012 Beatley Plot 12 566076 4077556 1,245 

72 

BEATLEY 

200013 Beatley Plot 13 568086 4078781 1,297 BEATLEY 

200014 y Plot 14 570454 4081948 1,465 

2 

BEATLEY 

200015 Beatley Plot 15 566131 4070745 1,149 

2 

BEATLEY 

200016 ot 16 568975 4072384 1,177 2- BEATLEY 

200017 Beatley Plot 17 571227 4073658 1,269 BEATLEY 

200018 Beatley Plot 18 564538 4084008 1,452 BEATLEY 

200019 Beatley Plot 19 564472 4084019 1,442 BEATLEY 

200020 Beatley Plot 20 587439 4067689 1,005 BEATLEY 

200021 Beatley Plot 21 588286 4070491 982 BEATLEY 

200022 Beatley Plot 22 587730 4072357 1,001 BEATLEY 

200023 Beatley Plot 23 590275 4074238 979 BEATLEY 

200024 Beatley Plot 24 588227 4078898 1,048 

2 

BEATLEY 

200025 Beatley Plot 25 584174 4077240 1,116 BEATLEY 

January 1960 – 

January 2007 

May 1962- 

December 1972

May 1962- 

December 1972

May 1962- 

December 1972

May 1962- 

December 1972 

May 1962- 

December 1972

May 1962- 

December 1972

June 1962- 

December 197

June 1962- 

December 1972 

Beatley P July 1962- 

December 19

July 1962- 

December 1972 

July 1962- 

December 19

July 1962- 

December 19

July 1962- 

December 1972 

Beatle July 1962- 

December 197

August 1962- 

December 197

Beatley Pl August 196

December 1972

May 1962- 

December 1972

July 1962- 

December 1972

August 1962- 

December 1972 

June 1962- 

December 1972 

August 1962- 

December 1972 

July 1962- 

December 1972 

September 1962- 

December 1972

May 1962- 

December 197

July 1962- 

December 1972

36
Station 

ID 

Station Name UTM NAD 27 

Z11 easting 

UTM NAD 27 

Z11 northing 

Elevation 

(meters) 

Period of Record Data Source 

200026 Beatley Plot 26 579921 4073999 1,232 July 1962- BEATLEY 

December 1972

200027 Beatley Plot 27 584859 4083111 1,132 BEATLEY 

200028 tley Plot 28 596375 4079026 1,007 BEATLEY 

200029 atley Plot 29 596029 4079195 987 BEATLEY 

200030 atley Plot 30 594676 4076565 957 - BEATLEY 

200031 tley Plot 31 595205 4075785 954 BEATLEY 

200032 Beatley Plot 32 601437 4077160 1,031 2- BEATLEY 

200033 Beatley Plot 33 599466 4075291 1,009 2- BEATLEY 

200034 Beatley Plot 34 597801 4072852 935 BEATLEY 

200035 Beatley Plot 35 597718 4070719 1,015 BEATLEY 

200036 Beatley Plot 36 596154 4071024 935 BEATLEY 

200037 Beatley Plot 37 596205 4071199 953 er 1962- BEATLEY 

200038 Beatley Plot 38 590727 4072254 959 - BEATLEY 

200039 Beatley Plot 39 574144 4086703 1,467 er 1962- BEATLEY 

200040 574111 4086567 1,467 BEATLEY 

200041 Beatley Plot 41 572760 4090653 1,538 

972 

BEATLEY 

200042 Beatley Plot 42 572741 4090564 1,538 BEATLEY 

200043 Beatley Plot 43 582700 4090610 1,274 BEATLEY 

200044 Beatley Plot 44 581064 4092802 1,257 BEATLEY 

200045 Beatley Plot 45 580226 4093124 1,284 BEATLEY 

200046 Beatley Plot 46 581490 4095855 1,245 

972 

BEATLEY 

200047 Beatley Plot 47 573852 4097457 1,472 BEATLEY 

200048 Beatley Plot 48 580904 4101103 1,283 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

4101986 1,258 September 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200050 Beatley Plot 50 583510 4103740 1,337 September 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200051 Beatley Plot 51 576317 4114983 1,535 September 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200052 Beatley Plot 52 586286 4114822 1,359 September 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

July 1962- 

December 1972

Bea July 1962- 

December 1972 

Be July 1962- 

December 1972 

Be September 1962

December 1972 

Bea July 1962- 

December 1972 

September 196

December 1972

September 196

December 1972

August 1962- 

December 1972 

August 1962- 

December 1972

August 1962- 

December 1972 

Octob

December 1972 

August 1962

December 1972 

Octob

December 1972 

Beatley Plot 40 August 1962- 

December 1972

July 1962- 

December 1

November 1962- 

December 1972

July 1962- 

December 1972

September 1962- 

December 1972

September 1962- 

December 1972

September 1962- 

December 1

September 1962- 

December 1972

September 1962- 

200049 Beatley Plot 49 581946 

37
38

Station 

ID 

Station Name UTM NAD 27 

Z11 easting 

UTM NAD 27 

Z11 northing 

Elevation 

(meters) 

Period of Record Data Source 

200053 Beatley Plot 53 586246 4113580 1,431 September 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200054 Beatley Plot 54 586853 4112702 1,362 September 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200055 Beatley Plot 55 586661 4108742 1,330 October 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200056 Beatley Plot 56 589772 4104270 1,339 September 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200057 Beatley Plot 57a 589658 4099870 1,271 September 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200058 Beatley Plot 58 585317 4095326 1,200 September 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200059 Beatley Plot 59 585367 4092811 1,195 September 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200060 Beatley Plot 60 589802 4090961 1,216 September 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200061 Beatley Plot 61 566068 4109952 1,746 August 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200062 Beatley Plot 62 565982 4110613 1,749 August 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200063 Beatley Plot 63 566441 4117269 2,001 August 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200064 Beatley Plot 64 570131 4116946 2,274 August 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200065 Beatley Plot 65 566790 4105957 1,697 December 1962- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200066 Beatley Plot 66 574614 4074332 1,294 August 1963- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200067 Beatley Plot 67 574566 4074243 1,294 August 1963- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

200068 Beatley Plot 68 566887 4114217 1,846 March 1964- 

December 1972 

BEATLEY 

260150 Amargosa Farms 

Garey1

 

548226 4047300 747 December 1965 – 

January 2007 

NCDC 

260714 Beatty1 522348 4085464 1,007 July 1948 – 

November 1972 

NCDC 

260718 Beatty 8 N1

 525146 4094158 1,082 December 1972 – 

January 2007 

NCDC 

263980 Indian Springs1

 617873 4049258 952 July 1948 – 

June 1964 

NCDC 

264457 Lathrop Wells1

 553710 4056018 814 July 1948 – 

January1963 

NCDC 

264473 Lathrop Wells 16 

SSE1

558353 4030168 665 November 1973 – 

August 1977 

NCDC 

300001 ADA 27 554319 4061008 866 March 1965- 

September 1969 

BECAMP 

300002 CETO Building 

Mercury 

589605 4058071 1,165 March 1973- 

June 1995 

BECAMP 

300003 GMX 595349 4078255 969 August 1976- 

April 1980 

BECAMP 

300004 Little Feller 1 560666 4106905 1,573 August 1976- 

May 1984 

BECAMP 

300005 Lookout Peak 574240 4078970 1,720 August 1962- 

February 1967 

BECAMP 
39

Station 

ID 

Station Name UTM NAD 27 

Z11 easting 

UTM NAD 27 

Z11 northing 

Elevation 

(meters) 

Period of Record Data Source 

300006 Pahute Mesa 2 547858 4128209 1,933 September 1964- 

December 1969 

BECAMP 

300007 Pahute Mesa 3 555124 4124032 1,978 September 1964- 

December 1969 

BECAMP 

300008 Pahute Mesa 4 561338 4123089 2,103 September 1964- 

December 1969 

BECAMP 

300009 Pahute Mesa 5 561477 4131041 2,058 September 1964- 

December 1969 

BECAMP 

300010 PU 13 596584 4130355 1,396 August 1976- 

April 1984 

BECAMP 

300011 Schultz Ranch 538173 4047887 727 March 1964- 

December 1969 

BECAMP 

300012 Shoshone Basin 566446 4087565 1,725 August 1962- 

December 1969 

BECAMP 

300013 Station 353 582221 4111402 1,329 August 1962- 

September 1964 

BECAMP 

300014 Rock Valley Plot 

A 

571586 4059846 1,018 October 1969- 

February 1976 

BECAMP 

300015 Rock Valley Plot 

B 

571994 4060169 1,050 October 1969 – 

April 1976 

BECAMP 

300016 Rock Valley Plot 

C 

572549 4060354 1,020 October 1969- 

July 1979 

BECAMP 

300017 Rock Valley Plot 

D 

572425 4060844 1,035 October 1969 – 

March 1975 

BECAMP 

400001 NTS-60 550772 4077380 1,143 December 1985- 

January 2006 

YMMM 

400002 Yucca Mountain 547644 4078749 1,478 January 1989- 

January 2006 

YMMM 

400003 Coyote Wash 548883 4078694 1,279 January 1989- 

January 2006 

YMMM 

400004 Alice Hill 553111 4079767 1,235 February 1990- 

January 2006 

YMMM 

400005 Gate 510 553418 4058384 838 January 1993- 

January 2006 

YMMM 

400006 WT-6 549377 4083103 1,315 July 1992- January 

2006 

YMMM 

400007 Sever Wash 552801 4077854 1,081 July 1992- January 

2006 

YMMM 

400008 Knothead Gap 551154 4075780 1,131 July 1992- January 

2006 

YMMM 

500001 Nevada Desert 

FACE Facility 

592223 4069284 965 October 1996- 

January 2007 

NDFF 

880001 WX-1 550424 4076521 1,163 January 1988- 

September 1995 

F&D 

880002 WX-2a 564332 4075931 1,154 May 1987- 

December 1989 

F&D 

880003 WX-2b 563430 4071986 1,055 January 1990- 

September 1995 

F&D 

880004 WX-3 548038 4080316 1,351 August 1987- 

September 1994 

F&D 

880005 WX-4a 547504 4076856 1,498 January 1988- 

December 1990 

F&D 

880006 WX-4b 547481 4075990 1,489 January 1991- 

September 1995 

F&D 
40

Station 

ID 

Station Name UTM NAD 27 

Z11 easting 

UTM NAD 27 

Z11 northing 

Elevation 

(meters) 

Period of Record Data Source 

880007 WX-5a 546453 4083775 1,789 July 1988- 

December 1993 

F&D 

880008 WX-5b 547984 4082370 1,563 January 1994- 

September 1995 

F&D 

1

Station records both precipitation and snowfall.