Bent County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Bent County: 0.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 7, 2001Hail$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A slow moving very severe thunderstorm brought very heavy rain, causing flooding, and hail around baseball size to the Ft. Lyon area for nearly an hour. Highway 50 was under water for over an hour near Ft. Lyon. Many residences experienced basement flooding. The large hail broken out windows and destroyed roofs on houses. Many vehicles also sustained major damage. The VA Medical Center's tile roof was completely destroyed, along with many windows. The grounds also sustained major damage. In addition, crops were totally destroyed in the area. Damage estimates were still preliminary at the time of submission.

2. Jun 20, 2004Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado caused severe damage to at least seven buildings at Mountain Prairie Hog Farms. Seven farrowing barns (380 feet x 60 feet) were destroyed. Only one pig was killed. A fire started in one of the structures when a gas line broke. Debris was scattered a few miles east southeast of the Farms.

3. Oct 11, 1997Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same supercell thunderstorm that brought large hail and a brief tornado to eastern Otero county produced a long track tornado through northwestern Bent and central Kiowa counties. The tornado began about 7 miles west of Las Animas. Eleven people were in the direct path of the tornado as it hit a ranch house and adjacent outbuildings. Five men were caught outside, trying to move their vehicles from harm's way. Four were thrown about by the tornado and received minor injuries. Six women in the ranch house were unhurt. The tornado moved northeast and blew a vehicle off Highway 194. The occupant received minor injuries. It destroyed a stream level monitor on the other side of the…

4. Jun 16, 2006Hail$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A few damaging supercells moved through Las Animas, Bent, Prowers, and Baca Counties. One broke out 75 windows with 2-inch diameter, wind-driven hail at the Colorado Interstate Gas Facility in southeast Bent County. Large hail damaged a house in southwest Prowers County. Another passed through Campo, in southern Baca County, producing damaging, wind driven 2-inch diameter hail. Windows were broken out, roofs were partially ripped off modular homes, and outbuildings and vehicles were damaged or destroyed.

5. Jun 16, 2004Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado struck a ranch destroying the house, and damaging other buildings and two mobile homes. The family of five sought shelter in an interior closet, and the lone injury was the mother, who suffered a minor gash on her forehead.

6. Jul 23, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damaging thunderstorm winds downed 1 1/2 miles of power poles along Highway 101 around 7 miles south of Las Animas in Bent county. It took around 2 to 3 weeks to replace the poles.

7. Aug 31, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A damaging microburst wind, estimated to be at least 115 mph in strength struck a mobile home, rolling it a few hundred yards. The intense damage was 50 to 75 yards across. Twin brothers, Dan and Denton Cochell were in the mobile home. Dan was thrown from the mobile home and sustained a broken eye socket. Denton was rolled inside the mobile home, sustaining numerous injuries to his body, neck, and head. He died six days later.

8. Aug 3, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong thunderstorm winds blew down numerous trees and power lines, and also destroyed a car wash and the four vehicles inside. Local street flooding was caused by 1.2 inches of rain.

9. Dec 1, 2007Wildfire, Bent County$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire near Hasty burned several hundred acres and three empty mobile homes. A truck driver drove off the road due to thick smoke. The truck was consumed by the wildfire. Two other semi-trailers ran off the road as well, and some power lines were burned.

10. Oct 11, 1997Hail$50,000

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

114°F2 times, most recently Jun 24, 2012

All-time low

−32°F2 times, most recently Jan 28, 1948

Warmest night

89°F4 times, most recently Aug 2, 1935

Coldest day

−8°FDec 20, 1924

Wettest day

4.50 inOct 1, 2026

Snowiest day

30.0 inOct 25, 1997

Hottest year

1934mean 61.4°F

Coldest year

1924mean 48.8°F

Wettest year

201722.28 in

Driest year

18943.78 in

Snowiest season

54.0 in1997-98

Station Las Animas (USC00054834), 3,890 ft elevation, 2.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 99.5% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

Neighbouring counties

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USC00054834.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.