Southwestern San Juan Mountains storm history

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) 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 Small …

A father and two children were moving between a building and vehicle when they were caught in a roof avalanche. The force of the avalanche threw one child towards the building, where their airway was covered in debris but part of their head was visible (partially buried-critical)…

Two backcountry skiers unintentionally triggered an avalanche on a northwest-facing slope near Vallecito Reservoir. The avalanche was 12 to 30 inches deep and about 200 feet wide at the crown face. It ran about 300 vertical feet through a burn scar, stumps, small aspens, and thic…

At around 2:00 PM on March 17, 2022, a solo backcountry snowboarder was caught, buried, and killed in an avalanche south of Trout Lake, about five miles southwest of the town of Ophir.

A soft slab avalanche was triggered on the north face of Battleship, southeast of Ophir, Colorado by a group of backcountry skiers after a week long period of light to moderate snowfall. The avalanche was small relative to the path and destructive enough to injure, bury or kill a…

A backcountry skier was killed in an avalanche he triggered within an area locally know as Sam's Trees in the Chattanooga area between Red Mountain Pass and the town of Silverton. The avalanche location was close to Highway 550.

Two cross country skiers were traversing the northwest side of Kendall Mountain when an avalanche was triggered. The snow layer fractured at the 11,300 foot layer, a short distance above one skier who was quickly swept several hundred feet down a 42 degree slope into a grove of t…

A party of three skiers triggered an avalanche in the Cement Creek drainage area of the northwest San Juan Mountains. The slide occurred on a steep northeast aspect known as Clothesline Path. The steepness of this slope, combined with new snowfall over a weakened slab of older sn…

A skier in a group of four decided to ski down a southeast aspect near Ophir Pass during a sunny and relatively warm afternoon. This skier initiated a wet slab avalanche that broke loose at about the 12,800 foot level and traveled a distance of over one mile with a path width of …

Generally 6 to 12 inches of snow fell across the area with up to 13.2 inches of snow at Upper San Juan. 11.2 inches of snow was reported at Pagosa Springs 4.6 NNW.

Generally 4 to 10 inches of snow fell across the area with up to 12 inches at Upper San Juan. Winds gusted in the 40 to 48 mph range with a peak wind gust of 48 mph at Eagle.

Generally 4 to 10 inches of snow fell across the area with up to 12 inches at Upper San Juan. Winds gusted in the 40 to 48 mph range with a peak wind gust of 48 mph at Eagle.

Generally 4 to 9 inches of snow fell across the area. Winds stayed below 45 mph with gusts up to 40 mph.

Generally 4 to 8 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts up to 13 inches at Columbus Basin.

Generally 5 to 12 inches of snow fell across the area. Winds gusted above 45 mph at elevations above 11,800 feet with a peak wind gust of 51 mph at Lewis Creek.

The US Drought Monitor removed the last area of Extreme (D3) Drought from Colorado Zone 019 - Southwestern 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…

The Stoner Mesa Fire started in late July due to a lightning strike 11 miles northeast of Dolores, Colorado to the northeast of Stoner, Colorado. The fire was initially out but re-emerged in early August and grew to 10,249 acres before it was contained in mid October. The estimat…

At the beginning of the month of October, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought as covering roughly 10% of Colorado Zone 019 - Southwestern San Juan Mountains. Severe (D2) Drought conditions covered 70% of the zone, and the remaining 20% were under Moder…

The Stoner Mesa Fire started in late July due to a lightning strike 11 miles northeast of Dolores, Colorado to the northeast of Stoner, Colorado. The fire was initially out but re-emerged in early August and grew to 10,249 acres before it was contained in mid October. The estimat…

At the beginning of the month of September, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought conditions as covering roughly 50% of Colorado Zone 019 - Southwestern San Juan Mountains, with the remainder of the zone under Severe (D2) Drought conditions. With the 9/1…

The Elkhorn Fire started in late July due to a structure fire that spread into the forest 6.8 miles northeast of Trimble, Colorado. The exact cause is still under investigation. The fire grew to 298 acres before it was contained in early August. The estimated cost to date was $4,…

At the beginning of the month of August, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought conditions that covered roughly 10% of Colorado Zone 019 - Southwestern San Juan Mountains. This area was confined to the far southeastern portion of the zone, and remained un…

The Stoner Mesa Fire started in late July due to a lightning strike 11 miles northeast of Dolores, Colorado to the northeast of Stoner, Colorado. The fire was initially out but re-emerged in early August and grew to 10,249 acres before it was contained in mid October. The estimat…

The Stoner Mesa Fire started in late July due to a lightning strike 11 miles northeast of Dolores, Colorado to the northeast of Stoner, Colorado. The fire was initially out but re-emerged in early August and grew to 10,249 acres before it was contained in mid October. The estimat…

The Elkhorn Fire started in late July due to a structure fire that spread into the forest 6.8 miles northeast of Trimble, Colorado. The exact cause is still under investigation. The fire grew to 298 acres before it was contained in early August. The estimated cost to date was $4,…

The US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought in far southeastern portions of Colorado Zone 019 - Southwestern San Juan Mountains. This area of Extreme (D3) Drought remained largely unchanged throughout the month. The Stoner Mesa wildfire began in this zone duri…

The sliver of Extreme (D3) Drought that has persisted along the very southern Divide in the San Juans has remained unchanged through the month of June.

Generally 4 to 10 inches of snow fell across the area. Peak wind gust of 46 mph occurred at Lewis Creek at elevations above 11,800 feet.

Generally 7 to 15 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts up to 17 inches at Cumbres Trestle. Wind gusts were in the 45 to 54 mph range at elevations above 12,000 feet with a peak wind gust of 54 mph at Eagle.

The area of Extreme (D3) Drought along the spine of the far southern Divide mountains in western Colorado remained unchanged during the month of May.

Generally 10 to 20 inches of snow fell across the area with 15 inches reported at Red Mountain Pass. Wind gusts were in the 45 to 60 mph range at elevations above 12,000 feet with a peak wind gust of 77 mph at Eagle at 4/17 19:00.

Generally 4 to 10 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts up to 16 inches at Mancos. Wind gusts stayed below 45 mph with gusts in the 30s.

Generally 5 to 12 inches of snow fell across the area with 8.5 inches reported at Molas Pass. Wind gusts generally stayed below 45 mph with locally higher peak wind gust of 58 mph at Eagle, which is above 12,000 feet.

Generally 4 to 8 inches of snow fell across the area with 10 inches of snow reported at Red Mountain Pass. Winds generally gusted in the 55 to 80 mph range at elevations above 11,800 feet with a peak wind gust of 81 mph at Eagle on April 1 at 8:00. The peak wind gust at Eagle on …

A sliver of Extreme (D3) drought conditions appeared in far eastern Archuleta County, along the southern San Juan Mountains. This amounted to less than 0.5% of the entire CWA. This area of D3 remained unchanged through the month, with Moderate (D1) and Severe (D2) conditions fill…

Generally 4 to 8 inches of snow fell across the area with 10 inches of snow reported at Red Mountain Pass. Winds generally gusted in the 55 to 80 mph range at elevations above 11,800 feet with a peak wind gust of 81 mph at Eagle on April 1 at 8:00. The peak wind gust at Eagle on …

Generally 5 to 13 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts up to 18 inches at El Diente Peak. Winds generally gusted in the 45 to 70 mph range at elevations above 10,000 feet with a peak wind gust of 78 mph at Kendall Mountain. There was a reported gust of …

Generally 8 to 15 inches of snow fell across the area with up to 20 inches of snow at Upper San Juan. 12 inches of snow was reported at Coal Bank Pass and Dolores 16.8 ENE. Winds generally gusted in the 45 to 65 mph range at elevations above 11,800 feet with a peak wind gust of 6…

Generally 10 to 15 inches of snow fell across the area with up to 20 inches at Beartown and Spud Mountain. 15 inches of snow was reported at Coal Bank and Red Mountain Pass. Winds generally gusted in the 45 to 80 mph range at elevations above 11,800 feet with a peak wind gust of …

Generally 4 to 10 inches of snow fell across the area. Wind gusts were generally in the 45 to 50 mph range at elevations above 11,800 feet with a peak wind gust of 69 mph at Eagle.

Generally 15 to 30 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts up to 39 inches at Cumbres Trestle. 25.3 inches of snow was reported at Rockwood 6.9 NNW with 30.5 inches of snow reported at Coal Bank Pass. Wind gusts were in the 50 to 60 mph range at elevations…

Generally 4 to 9 inches of snow fell across the area. Wind gusts in the 35 to 42 mph range occurred at elevations above 12,000 feet, staying below 45 mph during the event.

The KCPW AWOS on Wolf Creek Pass 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 or inconsistently above 10 mph. That said, the wind chill values produced by even these wea…

The KCPW AWOS on Wolf Creek Pass recorded an approximately 10.5 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. Winds were at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained, for the majority of the period. That said, even the weaker winds produced wind …

The KCPW AWOS on Wolf Creek Pass recorded an approximately 3 hour period with temperatures below 25F and wind chill values below 15F. The majority of the period saw winds at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained. That said, even the weaker winds produced wind chill values suffici…

The KCPW AWOS on Wolf Creek Pass recorded an approximately 9 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. Winds during the majority of the period were at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained, though even the periods of weaker winds saw sign…

The KCPW AWOS on Wolf Creek Pass recorded an approximately 12 hour period of temperatures below 25F and wind chill values below 15F. Winds were at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained, for about half of the period, although even the weaker winds produced sufficiently cold wind c…

The KCPW AWOS on Wolf Creek Pass recorded an approximately 10 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. Winds for the majority of the period were at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained. That said, even the weaker winds produced sufficie…

The KCPW AWOS on Wolf Creek Pass recorded an approximately 15 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. Winds were at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained, throughout the period. Temperatures ranged from 3F to 18F and winds ranged from 1…