Montezuma County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Montezuma 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 (233), USGS Conterminous (1).

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. Aug 14, 2003Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail broke windows, dented vehicles, and did extensive damage to residential and commercial roofs. The hail also resulted in extensive damage to gardens and to crops on adjacent farms.

2. Aug 1, 2002Wildfire$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Long Mesa fire began the end of July and was caused by lightning. The fire was contained on the 4th of August after it consumed 2,601 acres of mixed trees and shrubs in Mesa Verde National Park. A total of seven structures were destroyed, including two houses. A water tank, sewage treatment plant, power and phone lines were also destroyed. One wall of the Cedar Tree Tower archaeological site was scorched. The cost of fighting the fire was 1.3 million dollars.

3. Sep 29, 2005Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding was reported in many areas of Montezuma County where 3 to 5 inches of rain fell within a 12 hour period between midnight and noon. Flood waters were still flowing high in the early evening hours. A house located in a flood plain was inundated with about 4 feet of water and furniture was observed floating in the yard. About 2 feet of water also inundated a nearby restaurant at the intersection of Highways 491 and 184. Many roads were closed, including those in McElmo Canyon area where residents were evacuated. The sewage treatment plant for Cortez overflowed. Road washouts occurred in many areas and some bridges were destroyed

4. Jun 17, 1998High Wind, Four Corners/Upper Dolores River/Cortez And Vicinity / X Sw San Miguel / W Dolores / Monteauma Except Ne$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong post-frontal winds blew over a tandem tractor-trailer rig hauling a load of computers on U.S. highway 666 about 21 miles south-southwest of Cortez.

5. Jul 16, 1997Lightning$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning caused numerous brush and forest fires in extreme southwest Colorado which spread rapidly due to high winds. One fire near Hovenweep National Monument burned 160 acres and destroyed a mobile home, a boat, and several outbuildings. It also consumed eight power poles and lines, resulting in power outages. Nearly 400 acres of vegetation was burned in Montezuma County.

6. Jun 27, 1996Heavy Rain$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A heavy downpour of rain and hail caused the roof of a video and book store to collapse. The basement of the Justice Building was flooded and traffic was interrupted by flooded streets. Marble size hail accumulated up to a half foot in depth.

7. Oct 3, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong outflow winds from a thunderstorm combined with winds associated with a nearby cold front to produce extensive damage on several farms within about a two-mile radius of the location with the heaviest damage. At the location with the strongest estimated winds, a metal barn was destroyed and a wind turbine that was rated to withstand winds to 95 mph had the blades ripped off and the flange bolt assembly ripped apart. Shingles were ripped off houses and outbuildings and unsecured objects such as lawn chairs became airborne missiles. Ripening hay in many fields was leveled and pinto bean plants in other fields were ripped to shreds and flattened.

8. Jul 22, 1997Lightning$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a house which was under construction and nearly completed. The house burned to the ground.

9. Jul 16, 2018Heavy Rain$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms moved over the area and produced 1.55 inches of rain within an hour and a half. Street flooding occurred as the storm drains were not able to handle the volume of rainfall. Water backed up into an area next to the flooded roads and flowed into the ground level floors of an apartment building. Water also pooled up to about a foot deep in a large vacant field.

10. Apr 9, 2023Flood$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Rapid snowmelt from the Dolores River led to various drainages breaching their banks. This resulted in flooded downtown residential buildings in the town of Dolores. The water also flooded streets, some yards, and school playgrounds. Flood waters did not recede for several days.

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

102°F10 times, most recently Aug 9, 2026

All-time low

−31°FFeb 8, 1933

Warmest night

78°FJun 30, 1943

Coldest day

9°FJan 12, 1963

Wettest day

2.56 inSep 10, 2003

Snowiest day

14.0 inDec 19, 1951

Hottest year

2025mean 53.3°F

Coldest year

1979mean 44.2°F

Wettest year

195726.34 in

Driest year

19895.23 in

Snowiest season

75.4 in1931-32

Station Cortez (USC00051886), 6,167 ft elevation, 2.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1911 to October 27, 2026; 97.0% 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 USC00051886.
• 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.