El Paso County

Every recorded tornado

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

Claims by ZIP code

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 (615), NASA (18), USGS Post-Fire Debris Flows (7).

Deadly landslides

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. Jul 1, 2012Wildfire, Northern El Paso County / Monument Ridge / Rampart Range Below 7500 Ft$400 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Waldo Canyon wildfire was fully contained on July 10th. See previous month for a full narrative of this episode.

2. Jun 26, 2012Wildfire, Northern El Paso County / Monument Ridge / Rampart Range Below 7500 Ft$400 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire erupted in Waldo Canyon, west of Colorado Springs midday June 23rd and was not contained until July 10th. The fire consumed 18,247 acres, most of which was in National Forest land. During the afternoon of June 26th, the wildfire exhibited extreme fire behavior during Red Flag conditions. An outflow boundary from thunderstorms to the northwest, hit the wildfire and drove it down the mountainside into northwest Colorado Springs. Winds gusted to around 65 mph with the fire storm, which consumed 347 structures and took the lives of a husband and wife in one of the houses. At the peak, 32,000 people were evacuated from their houses for a number of days. The President…

3. Jun 11, 2013Wildfire, Northern El Paso County / Monument Ridge / Rampart Range Below 7500 Ft$293 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The wildfire was sparked on the west side of Black Forest and rapidly spread eastward the first day. A couple lost their lives in the blaze the first day. During the next few days the wildfire spread north. At its height, over 35,000 people were evacuated from the area. The final count of houses completely destroyed was 486, making this wildfire the most destructive in Colorado history. Around 1000 firefighters eventually contained the wildfire, which burned 14,280 acres. The wildfire was likely human-caused.

4. Aug 6, 2018Hail$173 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Eight persons were transported to the hospital from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Time and hail estimated.

5. Jun 13, 2018Hail$169 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Continued: A rare nocturnal hail event impacted El Paso County during the early morning hours(MDT) of Wednesday, June 13th, 2018, producing hail up to 3 inches in diameter. Media reports indicate that this event caused $169 million in damages to vehicles, trees, roofs, siding, windows, skylights and other parts of homes. Some of the larger reported hailstones with this event during the early morning of the 13th included hail the size of hen eggs at Widefield, hail the size of tennis balls at Security and hail the size of tea cups in Fountain and Peterson Air Force Base.

6. Apr 29, 1999Flash Flood$28.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain, with amounts between 3 and 6 inches, swelled the Monument Creek and Fountain Creek watersheds to overflowing the evening of the 29th. The fast moving waters caused much bank erosion and flooded many areas adjacent to Fountain Creek from Manitou Springs through Colorado Springs to Fountain. Damage to agricultural lands, irrigation systems, trails, roads, sewer treatment plants, and other public and private property has been estimated at near 30 million dollars at this time. The bridge at 21st Street over Fountain Creek in western Colorado Springs on highway 24, the major east-west highway heading up into the mountains, was deemed unsafe, and was closed three weeks for…

7. Jun 14, 2002Hail$24.0 million
8. Jul 30, 2012Flash Flood$15.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain occurred over a large portion of the Waldo Canyon burn scar from late afternoon through early morning. A flow of ash and gravel covered US Highway 24 to a depth of five feet, stranding a truck and trailer. Debris flowed down Sand Gulch into the playground of the Ute Pass Elementary School and into two houses on the other side of Chipita Park Road. Debris in Wellington Gulch roared through a campground, which sustained damage to buildings and the property. Heavy damage was done to Colorado Springs Utilities roadways and a backup water pipeline around Nichols and Northfield Reservoirs. Additionally, flashing flooding occurred in the Security-Widefield area, where many…

9. Jul 24, 1996Hail$8.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail produced damage to about 3,000 dwellings and 1,800 vehicles.

10. May 28, 2001Tornado$8.0 million

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

101°F2 times, most recently Jun 21, 2016

All-time low

−27°FFeb 1, 1951

Warmest night

70°F3 times, most recently Jul 31, 2024

Coldest day

−10°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

4.50 inSep 14, 2011

Snowiest day

22.0 inJan 15, 1987

Hottest year

2012mean 53.0°F

Coldest year

1961mean 46.7°F

Wettest year

199927.58 in

Driest year

20027.85 in

Snowiest season

89.4 in1956-57

Station Colorado Springs Municipal Airport (USW00093037), 6,182 ft elevation, 5.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00093037.
• 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.