Upper Gunnison River Valley storm history

Localized dense fog developed within the Upper Gunnison River Valley on the morning of December 11. The KGUC AWOS at the Gunnison'Crested Butte Regional Airport reported multiple periods of reduced visibility due to fog. For roughly two hours beginning near sunset, 1/4-mile visib…

The US Drought Monitor removed the last area of Extreme (D3) Drought from Colorado Zone 014 - Upper Gunnison River Valley 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 (D3) D…

At the beginning of the month of October, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought as covering roughly 30% of Colorado Zone 014 - Upper Gunnison River Valley. Severe (D2) Drought covered roughly 50% of the zone, and Moderate (D1) Drought covered the remaini…

The South Rim Fire started in early July due to multiple lightning strikes 9 miles east of Montrose, Colorado which ignited fires on both the north and south rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The South Rim Fire became the larger of the two, which grew to 4,23…

At the beginning of the month of September, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought that covered roughly 50% of Colorado Zone 014 - Upper Gunnison River Valley, with the remainder of the zone under Severe (D2) or better drought conditions. With the 9/3 Dro…

The South Rim Fire started in early July due to multiple lightning strikes 9 miles east of Montrose, Colorado which ignited fires on both the north and south rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The South Rim Fire became the larger of the two, which grew to 4,23…

At the beginning of the month of August, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought that covered roughly 25% of Colorado Zone 014 - Upper Gunnison River Valley. The extent of Extreme (D3) drought conditions remained unchanged until the 8/20/25 US Drought Moni…

The South Rim Fire started in early July due to multiple lightning strikes 9 miles east of Montrose, Colorado which ignited fires on both the north and south rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The South Rim Fire became the larger of the two, which grew to 4,23…

At the beginning of the month of July, the US Drought Monitor analyzed a small area of Extreme (D3) Drought. With some increased moisture over the Gunnison Basin at the beginning of the month, this area of Extreme (D3) Drought improved to Severe (D2) Drought conditions with the J…

Extreme (D3) Drought conditions have only been analyzed along the far northwestern corner of the zone. However, these conditions remained largely unchanged during the month of June.

At the beginning of the month of May, Extreme (D3) Drought was analyzed across the furthest western tip of the Upper Gunnison River Valley (CO Zone 014), covering less than 10% of the zone. By the end of the month, that area of Extreme (D3) Drought had expanded slightly, covering…

The KGUC AWOS in Gunnison recorded an approximately 7 hour period where visibilities dropped as low as 0.25 mile. This was in between periods of light to moderate snowfall. The fog during this period was transient, with periods of visibility as low as 0.25 mile and periods with v…

Generally 5 to 10 inches of snow fell across the area with 10.9 inches of snow reported at Gunnison 6.6 N.

The KGUC AWOS in Gunnison recorded an approximately 1 hour period where temperatures were less than 25F and wind chill values were less than 15F. Winds were below 10 mph during this period, but still produced sufficiently cold wind chill values. Temperatures ranged from -2F to 3F…

The KGUC AWOS in Gunnison recorded an approximately 1.5 hour period where temperatures were less than 25F and wind chill values were less than 15F. Winds during this period were below 10 mph, but still produced sufficiently cold wind chill values. Temperatures ranged from 1F to 7…

The KGUC AWOS in Gunnison recorded an approximately 6 hour period were temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. The majority of this period also saw winds at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained. That said, even weaker winds were capable of producing suf…

The KGUC AWOS in Gunnison recorded an approximately 1 hour period with temperatures below 25F and wind chill values below 15F. Winds during this period were weaker than 10 mph, but were still enough to produce sufficiently cold wind chill values. Temperatures ranged from -4F to -…

The KGUC AWOS in Gunnison recorded an approximately 5 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. The majority of winds during this period were at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained. That said, even weaker winds were capable of producing…

The KGUC AWOS in Gunnison recorded an approximately 1 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. Wind chill values during this period were below 10 mph, however they produced wind chill values sufficiently cold enough to warrant inclusion.…

The KGUC AWOS in Gunnison recorded an approximately 10 hour period with temperatures below 25F and wind chill values below 15F. About half the period saw winds at or above 10 mph, gusting or sustained. That said, winds weaker than 10 mph were still capable of producing sufficient…

The KGUC AWOS in Gunnison recorded an approximately 2 hour period where temperatures were below 25F and wind chill values were below 15F. Winds during this period were below 10 mph, however the wind chill values they produced were sufficiently cold to warrant inclusion. Temperatu…

Shortly before 3AM local time, the KGUC AWOS at Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport began reporting visibilities less than 1/4 mile. Satellite imagery also confirmed an area of dense fog in the Upper Gunnison River Valley. As the sun rose, airfield cameras provided by the Fed…

Generally 12 to 18 inches of snow fell across the area with 18.5 inches of snow reported at Gunnison 6.2 N.

Generally 1 to 2 inches of snow fell across the area. Winds gusted in the 35 to 45 mph range with a peak wind gust of 46 mph at the Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport. Moderate to heavy snow with visibility less than a quarter mile was observed between Montrose and Gunnison …

Dense fog was observed in the Upper Gunnison River Valley via satellite imagery and AWOS reports. The Gunnison Airport AWOS reported visibilities reduced to less than 1/2 mile, and less than 1/4 mile at times during the 5 hour period of the Advisory.

Generally 7 to 12 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amount of 14 inches at Gunnison 0.2 NW. Winds gusted in the 30s towards the latter part of the event.

Generally 6 to 12 inches of snow fell across the area. Much of the snow fell in less than 12 hours as a result of cold air trapped in the valley.

Generally 5 to 8 inches of snow fell across the area.

Generally 2 to 7 inches of snow fell across the area.

Generally 3 to 9 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts near a foot estimated at Cerro Summit.

Generally 3 to 9 inches of snow fell across the area with locally higher amounts near a foot estimated at Cerro Summit.

Travel was impacted over Cerro Summit with slick, snowpacked roads and reduced visibility in blowing snow as winds gusted to 30 mph.

The status of the drought remained largely unchanged across the zone through the month of November. Moderate (D1) drought continued over the eastern and western portions of the zone with severe (D2) drought over the central area.

The status of the drought remained largely unchanged across the zone through the month of October. Abnormally dry to moderate (D0 to D1) drought continued over the eastern and western portions of the zone with severe (D2) drought over the central area.

The status of the drought remained largely unchanged across the zone through the month of September. Abnormally dry to moderate (D0 to D1) drought continued over the eastern and western portions of the zone with severe (D2) drought over the central area.

The status of the drought remained largely unchanged across the zone through the month of August. Abnormally dry to moderate (D0 to D1) drought continued over the eastern portion of the zone with severe (D2) drought over the central portions. The extreme (D3) drought improved to …

The status of the drought improved across some of the zone through the month of July. The severe (D2) drought improved to the abnormally dry to moderate (D0 to D1) category over the eastern portion of the zone. Meanwhile, the extreme (D3) drought continued over the far northwest …

The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of June with extreme (D3) conditions across the far northwest portion of the zone and severe (D2) conditions elsewhere.

The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of May with extreme (D3) conditions across the far northwest portion of the zone and severe (D2) conditions elsewhere.

The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of April with extreme (D3) conditions across the far northwest portion of the zone and severe (D2) conditions elsewhere.

The status of the drought remained unchanged through the end of March with extreme (D3) conditions across the far northwest portion of the zone and severe (D2) conditions elsewhere.

The status of the drought improved across the entirety of the zone by the end of February as the extreme (D3) drought entered the severe (D2) category.

The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of January with extreme (D3) conditions across the entirety of the zone.

A snow squall moved through the area with the automated sensor at the Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport recording visibility of less than 1/4 mile for 10 minutes and a peak wind gust of 45 MPH.

The status of the drought remained unchanged through the month of December with extreme (D3) conditions across the entirety of the zone.

The extreme (D3) drought persisted across the entirety of the zone through the end of November.

Generally 3 to 5 inches of snow fell across the area with up to 9 inches reported at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

The extreme (D3) drought persisted across the entirety of the zone through the end of October.

Generally 3 to 6 inches of snow fell across the area. A peak wind gust of 56 MPH occurred at the Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport. These strong winds led to numerous downed trees and power outages in Gunnison County, as reported by the Emergency Manager.

The extreme (D3) drought persisted across the entirety of the zone through the end of September.