Northwestern San Juan Mountains storm history

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center provided all the information regarding this fatal avalanche accident. The incident occurred in the Northwest San Juan Mountains, on the slopes of Red Mountain #3. The snowpack in this location was known to be weak, and the avalanche dange…

A backcountry skier, who was alone, triggered an avalanche in Waterfall Canyon, south of the town of Ophir. Avalanche danger was rated as moderate (2/5) to Considerable (3/5) on the day. The skier was caught, managed to self extricate, but succumbed to injury and exposure roughly…

A group of backcountry skiers triggered a large avalanche while on a multi-day trip in the mountains near The Nose, Middle Fork Mineral Creek southeast of Ophir. This was a soft slab avalanche that was 1000 feet wide and ran 1500 vertical feet. Four skiers were caught in the aval…

A 70 year old man was struck and killed by a tree that had been snapped by an earlier derecho event that moved across the area as he was clearing debris. The snapped tree had been stuck in taller trees and was dislodged by gusty winds that continued to blow in the wake of the der…

A mix of broken ice and snow fell over a cliff and picked up additional loose snow before stopping in Red Mountain Creek. A photographer (participant in a guided back-country tour) was struck by the falling ice and snow and buried, resulting in a fatality.

A backcountry skier was skiing up a mountain near the Matterhorn Nordic Trail system north of Trout Lake, near Lizard Head Pass, after a recent winter storm brought new snow in excess of 2 feet to the area. The new snow fell on top of an unstable snowpack from earlier winter stor…

A large avalanche released in the Temptation area in the Bear Creek drainage as a back country skier was skinning up the slopes. The skier was caught in the avalanche and buried under several feet of snow. The avalanche broke around 75 feet on an east-facing slope at an elevation…

A group of back country skiers participating in an avalanche safety course triggered an avalanche on the afternoon of January 5. All six members of the group were caught in the avalanche. The avalanche released a second avalanche sympathetically. The second avalanche ran over the…

A snowboarder traveling alone was caught in an avalanche which initiated at the 10,300 foot level and carried the victim downhill 925 vertical feet. The victim had an avalanche beacon and was found buried under four feet of snow and debris. The avalanche occurred in an area south…

A series of winter storms in March brought several feet of snow to the San Juan Mountains, including the storm leading up to this event which deposited 21 inches of new snowfall at the nearest observation site. The date of this event was the warmest day of the season to date with…

Seven back-country skiers ventured out on a hut trip near the Ridgeway Hut in the northern San Juan Mountains when two of the skiers were caught in an avalanche. Nearby observations indicated anywhere from 10 to 16 inches of fresh snow had fallen in the 6 days leading up to the e…

Generally 6 to 12 inches of snow fell across the area with 12.1 inches of snow reported at Ouray.

Generally 7 to 12 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts of 13.5 inches reported at Ouray. Winds gusted in the 45 to 55 mph range at elevations above 12,000 feet with a peak wind gust of 57 mph at Telluride Ski Dynamo.

Generally 7 to 12 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts of 13.5 inches reported at Ouray. Winds gusted in the 45 to 55 mph range at elevations above 12,000 feet with a peak wind gust of 57 mph at Telluride Ski Dynamo.

Areas of dense fog developed within the upper valleys of the San Juan mountains overnight from November 23 to 24. The KTEX AWOS at the Telluride Regional Airport reported three periods of 1/4-mile visibility due to dense freezing fog throughout the night, each lasting less than t…

Generally 5 to 7 inches of snow fell across the area. Winds stayed below 45 mph with gusts up to 35 mph.

Areas of dense fog developed within high-elevation valleys of the San Juan mountains resulting from multiple hours of snowfall during the early overnight period. The KTEX AWOS at the Telluride Regional Airport reported about four hours of 1/4-mile visibility from freezing fog aro…

Widespread, persistent dense fog developed within high-elevation valleys in the San Juan mountains following a round of terrain-driven snow showers. The KTEX AWOS at the Telluride Regional Airport reported multiple hours of 1/4-mile visibility from freezing fog throughout the maj…

Generally 4 to 9 inches of snow fell across the area. Winds gusted in the 45 to 60 mph range at elevations above 12,000 feet with a peak wind gust of 60 mph at Telluride Gold Hill.

The US Drought Monitor removed the last area of Extreme (D3) Drought from Colorado Zone 018 - Northwestern San Juan Mountains on October 14th, 2025. Extreme (D3) Drought did not reoccur for a month. Therefore this will be the last entry for this zone until such time as Extreme (D…

At the beginning of the month of October, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought as covering roughly 15% of Colorado Zone 018 - Northwestern San Juan Mountains. Severe (D2) Drought conditions covered 75% of the zone, while the remaining 10% was under Mode…

At the beginning of the month of September, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought conditions that covered roughly 1/3 of Colorado Zone 018 - Northwestern San Juan Mountains, with the remainder of the zone under Severe (D2) Drought conditions. With the 9/…

The August 20th US Drought Monitor update indicated worsening drought conditions across portions of southwest Colorado. In particular, drought across Colorado Zone 018 - Northwestern San Juan Mountains developed Extreme (D3) Drought, which was analyzed to cover roughly 1/3 of the…

Generally 3 to 6 inches of snow fell across the area. Wind gusts were in the 45 to 48 mph range with a peak wind gust of 48 mph at Sawpit. Winds were missing at Telluride Ski Resort at elevations above 12,000 feet, so these wind gusts were likely higher at higher elevations.

Generally 4 to 7 inches of snow fell across the area.

Generally 9 to 15 inches of snow fell across the area with 9.1 inches of snow reported at Ouray, 10.5 inches of snow reported at Monument and 15 inches of snow reported at Red Mountain Pass. Wind gusts were in the 45 to 55 mph range at elevations above 12,000 feet with a peak win…

Generally 4 to 8 inches of snow fell across the area with 8 inches reported at Red Mountain Pass.

Generally 6 to 12 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts in the town of Ouray with 15.4 inches of snow reported. 11 inches of snow was reported at the Monument site along Highway 550 in the Uncompahgre Gorge at higher elevations. Winds generally gusted in…

Generally 9 to 15 inches of snow fell across the area with 9.2 measured at Ouray and 15 inches measured at the Monument site in the Uncompahgre Gorge along Highway 550. Winds generally gusted in the 45 to 55 mph range at elevations above 11,800 feet during the early portion of th…

Generally 7 to 12 inches of snow fell across area. Winds generally gusted in the 45 to 60 mph range at elevations above 12,000 feet with a peak wind gust of 63 mph at Telluride Ski Resort Gold Hill on March 14 at 1:00.

Generally 7 to 10 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts up to 15 inches at Red Mountain Pass. 9.5 inches of snow was measured at the Monument site in the Uncompahgre Gorge along Highway 550. Winds generally gusted in the 45 to 70 mph range at elevations …

Generally 6 to 14 inches of snow fell across the area with 8 to 13 inches reported in the Uncompahgre Gorge including 8 inches reported at Ouray. Locally higher amount of 18 inches occurred at Red Mountain Pass. Peak wind gust of 45 mph occurred at Mt Abrams and Sawpit.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center rated the avalanche danger at this location on the day of the incident as Moderate (2/5), with persistent slab avalanches being the main concern. The likelihood of an avalanche was rated as Possible and the expected size was Large to Very…

Generally 4 to 8 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts of 8 to 10 inches in the Uncompahgre Gorge area with 8 inches of snow reported at Ouray 0.23 NNW.

Generally 10 to 24 inches of snow fell across the area with 21 inches reported at Monument site in the Uncompahgre Gorge along Highway 550. Wind gusts were generally in the 45 to 55 mph range at elevations above 11,000 feet with a peak wind gust to 66 mph at Telluride Ski Resort …

Generally 6 to 10 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts up to 12 inches at Lizard Head Pass. Wind gusts up to 41 mph occurred at elevations above 12,000 feet, staying below 45 mph.

The KTEX AWOS in Telluride recorded an approximately 3 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. The majority of the period saw winds either weaker than 10 mph, or inconsistently at or above 10 mph. That said, the weaker winds did still p…

The KTEX AWOS in Telluride recorded an approximately 4 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. Winds were below 10 mph throughout the period, but still produced wind chill values sufficiently cold to warrant inclusion. Temperatures rang…

The KTEX AWOS in Telluride recorded an approximately 5 hour period with temperatures below 25F and wind chill values below 15F. Only one hour of this period saw winds at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained. The remainder of the period saw weaker winds that still produced suffic…

The KTEX AWOS in Telluride recorded an approximately 3 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. Winds during this period were overall weaker than 10 mph, but still produced sufficiently cold wind chill values. Temperatures ranged from 9F…

The KTEX AWOS in Telluride recorded an approximately 3 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. The majority of the period saw winds at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained. That said, even the weaker winds during the period produced su…

The KTEX AWOS in Telluride recorded an approximately 2 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. The majority of this period saw winds less than 10 mph, but those still produced sufficiently cold wind chill values to warrant inclusion. Te…

The KTEX AWOS in Telluride recorded an approximately 6 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. About 4 hours out of this period saw winds at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained. That said, even the weaker winds produced wind chill val…

The KTEX AWOS in Telluride recorded an approximately 2 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. About 1 hour of the period saw winds at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained. The remainder of the period saw weaker winds that still produc…

The KTEX AWOS in Telluride recorded an approximately 5 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. Winds were, for the most part, below 10 mph but still produced sufficiently cold wind chill values. Temperatures ranged from -8F to 1F and wi…

The KTEX AWOS in Telluride recorded an approximately 7 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and winds chill values were below 15F. Winds during this period were weaker than 10 mph, but still produced sufficiently cold wind chill values to warrant inclusion. Temperatures …

The KTEX AWOS in Telluride recorded an approximately 3 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. Winds were, for the most part, weaker than 10 mph but still produced sufficiently cold wind chill values. Temperatures ranged from 16F to 18F…