Rio Grande 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 Grande 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 (14).

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, 2002Wildfire$11.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Continued from the previous month. The Million Fire was contained on Independence Day, after consuming 9300 acres.

2. Jun 19, 2002Wildfire$11.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Million Fire started in a rolled up section of illegally dumped sod. It is not known for sure whether the sod spontaneously combusted or was set on fire by a human. The fire spread rapidly with dry conditions and high winds. The 9300 acre fire totally destroyed 11 high end residences. Six residences were heavily damaged, and 2 outbuildings were destroyed. The fire was contained on July 4th. It cost nearly 3 1/2 million dollars to fight the fire.

3. Dec 5, 1996High Wind, Alamosa Vicinity / Central San Luis Valley Below 8500 Ft$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds occurred from the Sangre de Cristo mountains and east from early morning of the 4th through most of the day, as a powerful jet stream moved across Colorado. Sustained winds of 30 to 50 mph prevailed across the entire area before tapering off by late afternoon of the 5th. Damaging wind gusts began early morning of the 5th. Winds gusts to between 70 and 100 mph in the mountains west of and into Colorado Springs. In El Paso County a 70 foot Ponderosa pine fell on a house, and numerous fences and other outbuildings were damaged. Extensive damage occurred across the Wet Mountain Valley. Numerous power lines, smaller buildings, house and vehicle windows, and large trees…

4. Sep 25, 2012Tornado$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong storm produced a non-mesocyclone (landspout) tornado just south of Del Norte. There was minor damage to several properties...including one property which sustained damage to a camper and minor structural damage to the house.

5. May 24, 2010High Wind, Del Norte Vicinity / Northern San Luis Valley Below 8500 Ft$4,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Gradient winds...gusting up to 75 mph caused damage...especially over portions of El Paso and Pueblo Counties. Several large trees were uprooted in the Monte Vista area in Rio Grande County. A modular building was flipped on its top by the wind in Pueblo West. A few trees were also uprooted in the City of Pueblo. Winds caused power lines to come down in Manitou Springs, which sparked several small grass fires near the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. Three hangers at Peterson Air Force Base were evacuated, and some minor roof damage occurred. Some trees were uprooted in the greater Colorado Springs area. On Fort Carson, eight soldiers were injured when a tent they were setting up blew…

6. Jun 6, 2007Wildfire, Alamosa Vicinity / Central San Luis Valley Below 8500 Ft$1,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds across the San Luis Valley knocked over an electrical transmission line on Lane 6, 10 miles southwest of the Great Sand Dunes. The fire eventually consumed 320 acres of grass and brush as it spread to the northeast. No structures were involved, but the Great Sand Dunes was evacuated until 5 p.m.

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

96°FJul 30, 2016

All-time low

−38°FJan 13, 1963

Warmest night

59°FJul 16, 1944

Coldest day

−3°FDec 24, 1990

Wettest day

2.20 inApr 3, 1986

Snowiest day

17.0 inMar 15, 1942

Hottest year

2003mean 44.0°F

Coldest year

2013mean 37.6°F

Wettest year

202416.52 in

Driest year

19503.51 in

Snowiest season

49.6 in1967-68

Station Monte Vista 2W (USC00055706), 7,695 ft elevation, 3.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 96.6% 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 USC00055706.
• 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.