Broomfield County
Population 79,174 (2025) 33 sq mi
Broomfield County has recorded 5 tornadoes since 1950, 38th most of 64 counties in Colorado; the most recent was on June 7, 2009.
Hazard fingerprint Each spoke is this county’s percentile among U.S. counties where that hazard occurs. How it is computed
- Tornado damage paths since 19505
- Wildfire burn scars since 19841
At a glance
The record for Broomfield County in eight numbers. Each links to its section below.
Tornadoes
About one every 15 years since 1950, none rated F3/EF3 or stronger.
Strongest
June 5, 1988
F2, 2.0 mile path
50 yards wide.
Most recent
Sunday, June 7, 2009
EF0, 0.6 mile path
17 years ago.
Every recorded tornado
| Jun 7, 2009 | EF0 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Jul 12, 1996 | F0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 5, 1988 | F2 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 5, 1988 | F2 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Apr 19, 1971 | F1 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 |
- Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Broomfield County: 0.
- 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.
Hurricanes and tropical storms
No tropical storm or hurricane has tracked within 100 miles since records began in 1851.
Wildfire and smoke
206 acres burned in 1 large fire since 1984, equal to 1.0% of the land.
Largest
April 2, 2006
Rocky Flats Fire, 1,145 acres
206 acres inside Broomfield County.
Most recent
April 2, 2006
Rocky Flats Fire
1,145 acres in total.
Every large fire
| Rocky Flats | 2006 | 206 | 1,145 |
- 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
Smokiest year
2021: 49 days
Heavy smoke on 27 days in 2020, the most of any year.
Last 10 years
17.1 days a year
Medium or heavy smoke, 2016 to 2025.
2025
17 days
Medium or heavy smoke. 22 so far in 2026.
- 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.
Floods and flood insurance
20 federal flood insurance claims since 1978, with $179,000 paid.
Claims by ZIP code
| 80020 | 16 | $123,000 |
Flood events since 1996
- Flash Flood2
- Flood1
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 NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.
Drought
In severe drought or worse for 161 of 1,581 months since 1895 (10%); the longest spell lasted 17 months.
161
Months in severe drought or worse since 1895
59
Months in extreme drought
10%
Share of all months, severe or worse
Lowest reading
August 2026
−7.59, extreme drought
Longest severe spell
17 months
April 1954 to August 1955.
Latest month
September 2026
−7.47, extreme drought
- 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.
Earthquakes and landslides
6 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles since 1900; the largest was magnitude 5.5 in 1967.
1
Magnitude 2.5+ inside the county since 1973
4
Magnitude 3+ within 50 miles since 1973
6
Magnitude 4+ within 50 miles since 1900
2
Magnitude 5+ within 50 miles since 1900
Largest within 50 miles
August 9, 1967
7 km SE of Lochbuie, Colorado; 16.2 miles away, 6.2 miles deep.
Most recent, magnitude 3 or more
November 6, 2016
Magnitude 3.0
8 km ENE of Greeley, Colorado; 33.6 miles away.
Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles
| Dec 25, 1994 | 4.0 | 44.5 |
| Apr 2, 1981 | 4.3 | 2.8 |
| Nov 26, 1967 | 5.2 | 8.0 |
| Aug 9, 1967 | 5.5 | 16.2 |
| Apr 27, 1967 | 4.5 | 11.9 |
| Apr 10, 1967 | 4.3 | 11.9 |
- 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).
- 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.
Mapped landslides
2
Landslides mapped, probable or better
0
With a recorded date
1
Source inventory
Mapped by CO GS (2).
- Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.
USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.
Severe weather and other events
48 events in the National Weather Service record, 48 of them since 1996.
19
Hail reports, 1 inch or larger
0
Hail, 2 inches or larger
7
Damaging gusts, 58 mph+
0
Winter weather events since 1996
0
Heat events since 1996
0
Cold events since 1996
Largest hail
August 10, 2004
1.50 inches
Strongest measured or estimated gust
June 6, 2020
71 mph
More event types since 1996
| Lightning | 1 | 0 |
Costliest events since 1996
- Aug 16, 2022Flash Flood$10,000
National Weather Service narrative
Heavy rainfall produced extensive flooding in Broomfield. Six inches of water inundated a section of Highway 287. Bike paths were flooded along Rock Creek and near Spader Way near the Broomfield Events Center.
- Jun 2, 2019Lightning$1,000
National Weather Service narrative
Lightning struck a home with only minor damage.
- 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.
Weather records
From Denver-stapleton, 15.8 miles from the county’s population centre, with records from 1948.
- All-time high
- 104°F4 times, most recently Jun 29, 2018
- All-time low
- −25°F4 times, most recently Dec 22, 1990
- Warmest night
- 72°FJul 25, 2003
- Coldest day
- −9°F2 times, most recently Feb 4, 1989
- Wettest day
- 3.88 inSep 12, 2013
- Snowiest day
- 23.6 inDec 24, 1982
- Hottest year
- 1981mean 54.1°F
- Coldest year
- 1951mean 48.4°F
- Wettest year
- 201524.07 in
- Driest year
- 19547.51 in
- Snowiest season
- 99.3 in1958-59
Median first snow
October 18
Earliest: September 3, 1961
Median last snow
April 29
Latest: June 5, 1953
0 of 78 winters had no measurable snow.
Station Denver-stapleton (USW00023062), 5,286 ft elevation, 15.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 22, 2026; 98.7% 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.
Federal disaster declarations
6 since 1953. The most recent: Covid-19 Pandemic, March 28, 2020.
| Mar 28, 2020 | Biological | DR-4498-CO |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | EM-3436-CO |
| Sep 12, 2013 | Flood | EM-3365-CO |
| Jan 7, 2007 | Snowstorm | EM-3270-CO |
| Sep 5, 2005 | Coastal Storm | EM-3224-CO |
| Apr 9, 2003 | Snowstorm | EM-3185-CO |
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.
How this compares
Where Broomfield County stands among 64 counties in Colorado and 3,143 in the United States.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 5 | 38 / 64 |
| Tornadoes rated F3/EF3 or stronger | 0 | — |
| Tropical cyclones within 50 mi | 0 | — |
| Hurricane-strength passes within 50 mi | 0 | — |
| Wildfire acres since 1984 | 206 | 55 / 64 |
| Flood insurance claims | 20 | 25 / 64 |
| Flood insurance paid | $179,000 | 21 / 64 |
| Disaster declarations | 6 | 55 / 64 |
| Flood events since 1996 | 3 | 57 / 64 |
| Hail and wind events since 1996 | 45 | 51 / 64 |
| Winter storm events since 1996 | 0 | — |
| Reported damage since 1996 | $11,000 | 63 / 64 |
| River crests at major flood stage | 0 | — |
| High tide flooding days a year, last 10 years | 0.0 | — |
| Months in severe drought since 1895 | 161 | 33 / 64 |
| Medium or heavy smoke days a year, last 10 years | 17.1 | 16 / 64 |
| Earthquakes M4+ within 50 mi since 1900 | 6 | 13 / 64 |
| Earthquakes M2.5+ in the county since 1973 | 1 | 31 / 64 |
Neighbouring counties
| Adams County | 194 | 0 |
| Boulder County | 11 | 0 |
| Jefferson County | 13 | 0 |
| Weld County | 300 | 0 |
Sources and vintage
Every number on this page comes from these public records.
- 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 USW00023062.
- 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.
- Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
- 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 November 1, 2026.