High-Impact Weather and Climate Events

High-impact events cause the majority of societal costs related to weather and climate. They provoke societal responses that can either enhance or detract from long-term adaptation to climate risk. In 2015, WWA began a new research focus on extremes that is designed to place high-impact events in the context of historical climate variability and projected climate change, assess how the risk of these events varies over time and space, and examine how high-impact events interact with place-based vulnerability.

The first activities in this new research theme have been to build a database of 160+ historical high-impact weather and climate events in the three-state region, and to generate a complementary set of regional event maps showing how risk varies seasonally across the region for different types of weather and climate events.

All CPI-Adjusted Damage costs are 2022 values, calculated from: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/. CPI-Adjusted Damage costs are unavailable before the year 1913.

Note: The High-Impact Events Database is currently being updated with more features. Stay tuned.

Filter between two years
State County City Date Event Type Deaths CPI Adjusted Unadjusted Summary Links
Wyoming Laramie May 20, 1904 Flood 2
Colorado San Miguel Telluride March 01, 1902 Avalanche 12
Colorado Clear Creek Silver Plume February 12, 1899 Avalanche 10
Colorado Jefferson, Boulder Evergreen, Morrison, Golden, Eldorado Springs July 24, 1896 Flood 27 $250,000.00
Wyoming Laramie Cheyenne July 15, 1896 Flood
Colorado Boulder Boulder, Jamestown, Lyons, Longmont May 31, 1894 Flood 3 $350,000.00
Wyoming February 12, 1887 Winter Storm
Colorado Denver Denver April 23, 1885 Winter Storm
Colorado Lake Leadville February 01, 1885 Avalanche 10
Colorado Garfield, Mesa, Grand, Eagle, Larimer Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, Fort Collins June 01, 1884 Flood
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