BlockBefore

Buford, Colorado

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Meeker census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81641. It stands on Gooseberry Creek. The Survey maps it on the Buford quadrangle. It stands 7,028 feet above sea level.

Buford within Rio Blanco County

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 17 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

17 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Buford between 1992 and 2020, burning about 819 acres in total. 12 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Natural12
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Debris and open burning1
Recreation and ceremony1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
26 September 1992Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, CraigBRICKLEN
14 September 2010Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, CraigSMITH
30 August 2013Naturalunder an acreWhite River National ForestSMITH GULCH
29 August 2002Natural10 acresWhite River National ForestSAWMILL
28 August 2012Naturalunder an acreWhite River National ForestDOBBS
11 August 2013Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, CraigBADGER FLAT
8 July 2017Naturalunder an acreRio Blanco CountyUNKNOWN
31 July 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorthwest District, CraigELK CREEK

Every fire recorded in Rio Blanco County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Buford: 1 unknown, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gypsum-Anhydrite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
UnknownGypsum-AnhydriteOccurrenceSedimentary
Unknown Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Rio Blanco County

Storms near this place

3 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buford in 3 storm reports between 2015 and 2025: 1 funnel cloud, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 debris flow. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2025Debris FlowBuford$5,000Law Enforcement reported mud and debris on State Route 8 due to heavy rain on the recent Elk RBX Burn Scar. No reports of damages, injuries, or fatalities, just clearing of the roadway.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindBuford-A peak wind gust of 86 mph was measured by the Dead Horse automated weather station.
June 2015Funnel CloudBuford-A funnel cloud was observed between Meeker and Buford. One of the eyewitnesses shot a photograph of the funnel cloud which came low to the ground. There was some uncertainty whether or not it touched down.

Every storm recorded in Rio Blanco County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Thornburgh15.7 miles17
Meeker16.1 miles16
Rio Blanco24.5 miles18
White River City33.0 miles11
Angora52.5 miles12
Rangely63.3 miles14

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on BufordAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q24884862The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 173624. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.