Leader, Colorado
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1951 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the East Adams census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80103. The Survey maps it on the Leader quadrangle. It stands 4,864 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 16 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.
- 1951 USGS Leader quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1953 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1957 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Denver East quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
6 since 2011Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Leader between 2011 and 2020, burning about 2,002 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 August 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | STRASBURG |
| 22 August 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | BENNETT |
| 20 August 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | BYERS |
| 19 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 acres | Adams County Office | DETER-WINTERS |
| 19 July 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | BENNETT |
| 19 July 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | BYERS |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
16 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Leader in 16 storm reports between 2015 and 2025: 8 tornado, 4 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2024 | Tornado (EF0) | Leader | - | Brief landspout tornado over an open field. Location and duration is estimated based on trained spotter report and poor radar velocity data. |
| May 2024 | Tornado (EF0) | Leader | - | Storm chaser reported video and photographic evidence of a small landspout tornado over an open field that persisted for about 5 minutes. Location was estimated by spotter and radar data. |
| August 2024 | Tornado (EFU) | Leader | - | Multiple spotters have confirmed location. Tornado lasted about 5-6 minutes. It remained nearly stationary for about 2 minutes, then slowly drifted westward. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Leader | - | Strong outflow winds damaged four power poles which downed power lines. |
| June 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Leader | - | A landspout touched down briefly in an open field. No damage was observed. |
| June 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Leader | - | A landspout touched down briefly in an open field. No damage was observed. |
| June 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Leader | - | A landspout touched down briefly in an open field. No damage was observed. |
| June 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Leader | - | A landspout touched down briefly in an open field. No damage was observed. |
| May 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Leader | - | Straight-line winds sheared several power poles off at the base. |
| May 2015 | Tornado (EF0) | Leader | - | A tornado briefly touched down in open country. No damage was observed. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Leader | - | no account filed |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Leader | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Leader | - | no account filed |
| August 2023 | Hail | Leader | - | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Hail | Leader | - | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Hail | Leader | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cabin Creek | 11.0 miles | 15 | |
| Shamrock | 12.8 miles | 8 | |
| Living Springs | 13.0 miles | 15 | |
| Comanche | 14.2 miles | 15 | |
| Strasburg | 18.0 miles | 14 | |
| Bennett | 21.9 miles | 17 | |
| Manila | 26.6 miles | 14 | |
| Watkins | 31.1 miles | 19 |
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 Leader | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6508472 | 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 184655. 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.
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.





