Las Animas County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Las Animas 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 (4).

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 5, 2005Blizzard, Eastern Las Animas County$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Blizzard conditions caused by a strong surface low pressure system over southeast Colorado and southwest Kansas impacted southeast Colorado causing snow drifts several feet in depth in some areas as well as closed roads. In northern El Paso County, winds gusting over 70 mph brought down 113 power poles carrying 230,000 volts on a line which runs from Colorado Springs to Limon. All told, almost 200 power poles were brought down in northern El Paso County, causing around 600 eastern county residents to lose power from highway 94 north. Power substations were also knocked out. Some of the higher snow totals...which also included sustained winds in excess of 40 mph as well as…

2. Oct 24, 1997Blizzard, Eastern Las Animas County$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   While blizzards are not uncommon in Colorado, the widespread areal extent of this blizzard was, perhaps a one in 50 year event. A powerful low pressure system moved in from the northwest through Utah, and settled into northern New Mexico. Meantime, arctic air invaded eastern Colorado, setting the stage for high winds, below zero wind chill values, heavy snow, and widespread life threatening conditions. The heavy snow began in the southwest mountains early on Friday morning the 24th. Snow spread across the Eastern San Juan and La Garita Mountains into the San Luis Valley, Upper Arkansas Valley, Wet Mountain Valley, and Sangre de Cristo Mountains through Friday morning. Snow began…

3. Apr 11, 2001High Wind, Eastern Las Animas County$100,000
4. Jun 2, 2002Wildfire$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning started fires burned around 25,000 acres of land and trees south of Trinidad. One fire, the James John, burned around 5,000 acres southeast of Trinidad and east of Interstate 25, while the larger fire, the Spring, which began in New Mexico, scorched around 20,000 acres. The fires burned pinyon juniper, fir, ponderosa pine, aspen, and grass. Eight structures were lost. The James John Fire was around 9 miles southeast of Trinidad. It cost around 3 million dollars to fight the fires.

5. Jun 7, 1998Tornado$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down shortly after 11 p.m. on the 7th near Villegreen. It destroyed a barn and outbuildings on the Lester Jackson Ranch. Fences 3 miles northeast of Jackson Ranch through Snake and Cherry Canyons were destroyed.

6. Jul 25, 2010Flash Flood$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several roads north of Highway 12 sustained severe erosion due to deep, fast-flowing water.

7. Jul 25, 2010Flash Flood$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several roads north of Highway 12 sustained severe erosion due to deep, fast-flowing water.

8. May 21, 2009Flash Flood$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   I-25 frontage road and County Road 42 flooded.

9. Aug 15, 2010Hail$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorms produced hail bigger than golf balls near the Spanish Peaks.

10. Jun 6, 2014Tornado$5,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A large tornado occurred over mostly open country damaging some fencing, toppling trees, and damaging one outbuilding. One person was injured.

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°F6 times, most recently Aug 3, 2026

All-time low

−32°FJan 12, 1963

Warmest night

77°FJul 25, 1987

Coldest day

−9°FJan 12, 1963

Wettest day

4.20 inAug 11, 1981

Snowiest day

36.0 inNov 3, 1946

Hottest year

1954mean 56.4°F

Coldest year

1912mean 49.0°F

Wettest year

198124.68 in

Driest year

20125.68 in

Snowiest season

108.8 in2009-10

Station Trinidad (USC00058429), 6,030 ft elevation, 1.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1899 to October 25, 2026; 97.7% 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.

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 USC00058429.
• 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.