Otero County

Every recorded tornado

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

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 15, 2006High Wind, La Junta Vicinity / Otero County$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very strong gradient air flow, coupled with showers and fairly dry air in the lower layer of the atmosphere, combined to produced damaging microburst and macroburst winds across southeast Colorado. There was no lightning with nearly all the damaging winds. Those storms that did have lightning, had severe thunderstorm warnings issued for them. A particularly damaging microburst started just south of La Junta, causing power failures, downed trees and limbs, and peeled off a section of a store roof. There were also power outages from Rocky Ford to Swink. A few semi-trailers were blown over in La Junta. At Cheraw, several outbuildings were damaged, and power poles were damaged as…

2. Jun 26, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense thunderstorm wind gust occurred on County Road R, hitting a ranch. Major damage occurred to a 50-foot long shed, which damaged a truck inside. Debris from the shed was thrown several hundred feet to the east. Other farm equipment sustained damage as well. Several corrals were destroyed.

3. Oct 11, 1997Tornado$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Another supercell thunderstorm brought large hail and a tornado to southeast Otero county. The storm and accompanying tornado moved out of open country southwest of the Higbee Valley and struck several ranches just north of the Purgatoire River on Road 804. At about 8:45 p.m. the tornado struck three ranches about 3 miles southwest of Higbee. Some barns were destroyed, and roofs were ripped off others. Horse trailers, windmills, feed troughs, hay feeders, water tanks, grain storage bins were destroyed. Many large cottonwood trees were broken off or uprooted. The tornado ripped through the northwest side of Higbee, and one horse perished from injuries due to flying debris there.…

4. May 24, 1998Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A narrow tornado and 80 to 100 mph straight-line winds downed power lines... damaged several grain bins and storage silos...uprooted large trees...shattered some windows...and partially ripped off some roofs in the rural Star Valley area west of La Junta. A large 40x100 foot machine shop was destroyed. Several small sheds were also destroyed. Power was not restored to some parts of the area until the following afternoon.

5. Oct 11, 1997Hail$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm brought large, destructive hail to La Junta, especially the east side of town, and then east northeast into northwest Bent county. Hail ranged from one inch to 2.75 inches in diameter.

6. Jun 26, 2007Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A complex of strong to severe thunderstorms produced very heavy rain which flooded low areas and basements from Fowler to Rocky Ford.

7. Aug 4, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A microburst damaged roofs and took down trees and 15 utility poles south of Rocky Ford.

8. Jun 17, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe storm wind gusts caused gas station sign and overhang damage. In addition, trees snapped and uprooted in the City of La Junta while airport hangers were damaged at the La Junta airport.

9. Apr 1, 2010Wildfire, La Junta Vicinity / Otero County$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wind-driven grass fire forced the evacuation of residents. The fire started around 3 p.m. along the Arkansas River near CR21 and Highway 266. The fire burned nearly 1000 acres. An irrigation pump house was destroyed, along with some irrigation pipe.

10. May 24, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$25,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Damaging straight-line winds moved through mainly northern La Junta. Hardest hit was the Fair View Cemetery, on the northwest side of town, where about 25 large trees were damaged or uprooted. Spotty roof and sign damage occurred on the north side of La Junta.

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

110°F2 times, most recently Jun 24, 2012

All-time low

−23°FJan 28, 1948

Warmest night

82°FJul 20, 2005

Coldest day

−1°F3 times, most recently Dec 21, 1990

Wettest day

2.84 inJul 22, 1966

Snowiest day

18.8 inMar 30, 1973

Hottest year

2012mean 57.4°F

Coldest year

1966mean 52.0°F

Wettest year

199017.40 in

Driest year

20023.37 in

Snowiest season

59.1 in1972-73

Station La Junta Municipal Airport (USW00023067), 4,195 ft elevation, 8.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1945 to October 26, 2026; 99.7% 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 USW00023067.
• 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.
• 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.