High-Impact Weather and Climate Events

23" of snow. "This is by far the biggest April snowstorm in Denver history, according to Weather 5280. Even more notable? It happened during an April where 32" fell on the city, which is almost a record for the entire month." - 9News

"What today stands as a ghost town was once a thriving settlement built along railroad tracks for the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railway. The only problem? It was built right along an avalanche slide path. On that fateful March day, 18 of the 200 residents who lived there were buried in the avalanche that swept over the town, destroying buildings and ripping up trees. Thirteen were killed, including the six children of Mrs. Marcella Doyle, who ran a boarding house for railroad men. The town was never rebuilt. Tunnel Gulch was built downgrade, out of the avalanche slide path, about a half-mile away." - 9News

"Thirteen miners were caught in this slide, 10 of whom died. Rescuers said in an Aspen Daily Times article at the time that it was "almost impossible" to search for survivors due to drifts "filled with timbers and boulders." The slide also swept away $50,000 worth of ore stored in the mine houses, as well as several buildings. Ultimately, the town dump saved the nearby town by altering the course of the avalanche before it reached the most populated area." - 9News

"The Blizzard of 1887 was just one part of an absolutely brutal winter. Cattle herds across the plains were decimated. Spoiled by previously mild winters and picture-perfect summers, ranchers in Wyoming and Montana had overstocked their lands. They were completely ill-prepared for the coming winter. For months, low temperatures, high winds, and record snowfall in Wyoming made it a battle to keep cattle fed. When a huge storm began in January, over an inch of snow fell every single hour for over 16 hours straight. Ranchers had no way to easily access their already fragile herds. The small bits of grass that the cattle had available to them was covered in snow and ice. They had no way to feed. In the end, hundreds of thousands of cows starved to death by the time spring arrived and the pastures were thawed." - Only In Your State

"The winter of 1886-1887 brought one of the most significant early storms recorded. The snow came early and grew very deep. Then, a freak thaw turned much of this to water. Cold weather moved back in, freezing the thawed liquid into a crust of ice, which prevented cattle from getting through to the forage underneath. These conditions, accompanied by a blizzard of unusual severity, caused a loss of more than 50 percent of the state's livestock. The snow was 6 feet deep on the level between Mountain Home and Woods Landing. On February 12, 1887, the storms were still raging over the state, and the snow was packed so hard that stages could drive over it. Trains were stalled on their tracks." - WY Hazard Mitigation Plan 2021-2026

"Eleven miners who lived and worked about 15 miles northwest of Leadville were swept away when their cabin was buried in an avalanche. One survived. A New York Times article from that time says rescuers were met by a crowd of miners, who told them it wouldn't be possible to reach the buried men in the soft snow." - 9News

Rain-on-snow event; primary accounts describe the flood as a wall of water 10-15' high, carrying trees and logs. The flood destroyed Fort Clara, the grist mill, schoolhouse, and 7 houses. The event also killed livestock and destroyed much of the orchards and fields.

"A snowslide that crashed down the valley near the Whale mine buried cabins, killing a family and four others. The storm nearly killed another man named George Cardier, who relayed his experience in the Colorado Miner, saying the force of the avalanche knocked off his socks and boots. Cardier survived when the cabins created a barrier around him, diverting the snow." - 9News