Custer County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Custer 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.

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.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by CO GS (15).

1. 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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Mar 14, 1996Winter Storm, Westcliffe Vicinity / Wet Mountain Valley Below 8500 Ft$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong storm system in the desert southwest moved into southern Colorado late on the night of the 13th and during the early morning of the 14th. This system, which lasted until the early morning of the 15th, brought hazardous winter driving conditions and heavy snow amounts to south central and southeastern Colorado. 3 to 8 inches of snow was generally found across the area, including 4 to 9 inches in the Colorado Springs area, with higher amounts recorded over the higher terrain. Other totals included 12 inches at La Veta Pass...16 inches in Rye...17 inches in Beulah...and 24 inches in Cuchara. 7 to 12 inches of a wet snow/freezing rain mixture fell across western Kiowa county,…

2. Nov 12, 2011High Wind, Westcliffe Vicinity / Wet Mountain Valley Below 8500 Ft$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong storm system centered over northern Colorado produced widespread damaging winds...in excess of 100 mph at times...over south central and southeast Colorado. There were widespread power outages and damage...especially over sections of Custer and Las Animas Counties. Custer County was under a state of emergency for a time. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down. In addition...sheds and barns were destroyed...a few cars were damaged or destroyed when large tree limbs came crashing down on them...a few homes also had tree damage...trailers were knocked over and some roofs were damaged and/or blown off. Higher reported wind gusts include 59 mph at the Pueblo Memorial…

3. Feb 22, 1996High Wind, Northern Sangre De Cristo Mountains Above 11000 Ft$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds occurred along the lee slopes of the Rampart Range and Wet Mountains in the morning hours. Winds gusted to over 60 knots throughout much of that area...with a peak gust of 76 knots at Monument in El Paso county. Winds at the Air Force Academy gusted to 72 knots. Damage to roofs...shingles and fences was seen in western Colorado Springs and over 2,600 homes lost power for between 2 and 6 hours. Beulah...in western Pueblo county had a peak wind gust of 64 knots. A few mobile homes in Williamsburg in Fremont county were rolled over and a few people had minor injuries. Around 1,100 customers lost power in Pueblo for an hour. Two mobile homes in transit on Interstate 25 were…

4. Apr 30, 2002Wildfire$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Cuerno Verde fire was human caused, when a yard clean-up project was fanned by high winds. The fire burned around 600 acres of trees and meadows. Two homes were destroyed. It cost around $500,000 to fight the fire. The fire was not contained until May 1st.

5. May 1, 2002Wildfire$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Cuerno Verde fire, which started April 30th, was contained on this date. Two residences were destroyed. It cost $500,000 to fight the fire.

6. Apr 19, 2007High Wind, Westcliffe Vicinity / Wet Mountain Valley Below 8500 Ft$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A steel barn was destroyed three miles southwest of Westcliffe. Many large limbs were broken off and fell on the ranch house. A nearby shed was also destroyed. The localized damage was likely the result of strong gradient winds and virga...creating a very high wind.

7. Jul 27, 2003Flash Flood$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Houses and other buildings were flooded as a burst of heavy rain hit the area. A health clinic in Westcliffe was flooded, with an estimated $1200 in damage. The library sustained about $1000 in damage. Water up to one foot depth was reported in roadways in Westcliffe and Silver Cliff.

8. Jul 26, 2009Flash Flood$4,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Six inches of water was observed flowing over roadways...with several gravel roads washed out and impassable.

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

96°FJul 11, 1939

All-time low

−46°FFeb 8, 1933

Warmest night

68°FJul 25, 1903

Coldest day

−6°FFeb 5, 1989

Wettest day

3.81 inMay 18, 1955

Snowiest day

30.0 in2 times, most recently Nov 27, 1919

Hottest year

1934mean 47.0°F

Coldest year

1992mean 39.5°F

Wettest year

193635.48 in

Driest year

20188.58 in

Snowiest season

173.4 in1936-37

Station Westcliffe (USC00058931), 7,873 ft elevation, 4.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1895 to October 26, 2026; 99.0% 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 USC00058931.
• 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 October 30, 2026.