Clifton, Colorado
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Clifton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81520. It lies near Moulton Valley. The Survey maps it on the Clifton quadrangle. 20,413 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,724 feet above sea level.
On record in Clifton
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 2 records
Clifton Community Center and Churchlisted 1982
Kettle-Jens Houselisted 1983
Population over time
2 figuresClifton grew from 19,889 to 20,413 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 19,889 | |
| 2020 | 20,413 | +524 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 12 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1956 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Clifton quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
780 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 780 fires within 5 miles of Clifton between 1994 and 2020, burning about 375 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 5 were 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 669 |
| Smoking | 31 |
| Debris and open burning | 30 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 13 |
| Fireworks | 10 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Clifton Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 9 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Grand Junction Fire Department | UNKNOWN |
| 8 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Clifton Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 8 September 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Grand Junction Fire Department | UNKNOWN |
| 6 September 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | N/A |
| 4 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | N/A |
| 30 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Clifton Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 30 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Clifton Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 12 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Clifton: 8 unknowns, 2 occurrences, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Fire Clay (Refractory), 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield | Uranium | Unknown | ||
| Unknown | Fire Clay (Refractory) | Occurrence | ||
| Unknown | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| Clay Pit | Clay | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Mine | Clay | Unknown | ||
| Corn Const Co 30 1/2 Road Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Corn Construction Co 30 Road Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Gearhart Mt Garfield | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Golden Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
10 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Clifton in 10 storm reports between 1997 and 2020: 3 heavy rain, 2 lightning, 2 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2006 | Heavy Rain | Clifton | 1 killed | no account filed |
| September 1998 | Lightning | Clifton | 1 hurt | no account filed |
| September 1997 | Lightning | Clifton | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Dust Devil | Clifton | $1,000 | An intense dust devil crossed a back yard and yanked a strongly anchored trampoline up an into the air which then crashed to the ground and was totally destroyed. The rebar anchors had been embedded into the hard and dry clay ground to a depth of 18 inches. Roof shingles were also torn off the corner of the nearby house. |
| May 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clifton | $500 | A microburst from a dry thunderstorm blew a trampoline about a hundred feet and knocked over some cottonwood trees. Other unsecured objects were blown away. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clifton | - | A National Weather Service employee estimated a peak wind gust of 60 mph. A large portion of the employee's fence was blown down as a result of the winds. |
| August 2016 | Heavy Rain | Clifton | - | In the Clifton area 0.52 of an inch of rain fell within 20 minutes. |
| May 2015 | Hail | Clifton | - | Strong thunderstorms produced hail up to the size of quarters in the community of Clifton. |
| July 2008 | Heavy Rain | Clifton | - | Rainfall of 0.67 inches occurred. |
| September 2003 | Hail | Clifton | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Park | 1.7 miles | 12 | |
| Pear Park | 1.9 miles | 12 | |
| Bridges Switch | 2.4 miles | 12 | |
| Johnsons Corner | 2.5 miles | 12 | |
| Fruitvale | 2.6 miles | 12 | |
| Mount Lincoln | 3.6 miles | 12 | |
| Palisade | 5.3 miles | 15 | |
| Grand Junction | 5.7 miles | 14 |
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 Clifton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1101367 | The 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 174618. 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.







