Rio Blanco County

Every recorded tornado

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

Volcanoes within 100 miles

1. U.S. volcanoes within 100 miles, from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. The threat category is the USGS 2018 National Volcanic Threat Assessment, which ranks volcanoes by how hazardous their past eruptions were and how many people and how much infrastructure lie near them. It is not a forecast of eruption.

USGS Volcano Hazards Program, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by CO GS (1,015), NASA (1), UT GRC (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. Sep 20, 1997Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail stones up to 4 inches in diameter were carried along by strong winds and produced widespread damage to buildings and vehicles. Some livestock were injured. All aircraft parked outside of the hangars at the Rangely airport were damaged. A new glider plane was totalled.

2. Jul 1, 2021Wildfire, Lower Yampa River Basin$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Oil Springs Fire was started by lightning and was approximately 23 miles south of Rangely. It grew to 12,613 acres before it was contained in mid July. Colorado Hwy 139 was closed from Fruita to north of Douglas Pass for a while due to the fire.

3. Jul 16, 2023Wildfire, Central Yampa River Basin$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Howard Fire started in mid July from a lightning strike near Meeker, and grew to 255 acres before it was contained at the end of the month.

4. Oct 1, 2023Wildfire, Central Yampa River Basin$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Iron Fire started in late September from unknown causes 18 miles northwest of Craig. The fire grew to 7,392 acres before it was contained in early October.

5. Sep 29, 2023Wildfire, Central Yampa River Basin$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Iron Fire started in late September from unknown causes 18 miles northwest of Craig. The fire grew to 7,392 acres before it was contained in early October.

6. Jul 26, 2019Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rally car racers encountered flooding along County Road 73 near Hall Draw when their vehicle stalled. Drivers escaped the vehicle before it was swept downstream toward the White River. The vehicle was later found approximately 1 mile downstream from where it got swept off the road.

7. Apr 8, 2005Strong Wind, Central Yampa River Basin$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong gradient winds produced widespread damage in eastern Moffat County. A 60 foot communications tower was blown down and microwave dishes and antennas were blown off other communications towers. Utility poles and trees were blown down, and large tree limbs were snapped off. Electric power was knocked out for a few hours in many areas, and even longer in a some isolated locations. Several campers and trailers were rolled over, and several sheds were blown over. Shingles were blown off roofs. Many unsecured items blew away and were not found.

8. Aug 16, 2023Wildfire, Lower Yampa River Basin$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Deserado Fire started in mid August from a lightning strike 8 miles east of Rangely, and grew to 1131 acres before it was contained the next week.

9. Sep 20, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong outflow winds from a supercell thunderstorm were estimated to have gusts at least to 80 MPH. Most 4 by 4 foot wooden sign posts were snapped off within Rangely as well as along highway 64 and highway 139 in the Rangely area. Many steel sign posts were bent over and a few were snapped off. A 2 foot diameter cottonwood tree was blown over and crushed a late model van. Some other large trees were blown over, along with many large tree branches. A metal storage shed was ripped from its moorings and blown over the side of a hill.

10. Sep 1, 2023Wildfire, Roan And Tavaputs Plateaus$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The Pike Ridge Fire started in mid August from a lightning strike 29 miles north of Loma near Douglas Pass. The fire grew to 246 acres before it was contained in mid September.

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

103°FJul 11, 1900

All-time low

−43°F2 times, most recently Jan 12, 1963

Warmest night

74°F2 times, most recently Jun 12, 1918

Coldest day

−6°FJan 12, 1963

Wettest day

3.24 inAug 10, 1925

Snowiest day

15.0 inMay 19, 1960

Hottest year

1954mean 47.1°F

Coldest year

1912mean 40.1°F

Wettest year

199725.24 in

Driest year

20127.26 in

Snowiest season

126.5 in1951-52

Station Meeker (USC00055484), 6,229 ft elevation, 19.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 26, 2026; 96.0% 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 USC00055484.
• 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.
• Volcanoes USGS Volcano Hazards Program, U.S. volcanoes and 2018 threat assessment.
• 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.