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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.

Leader within Adams County

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 16 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

6 since 2011

Regional 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/undetermined6

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
29 August 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersSTRASBURG
22 August 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersBENNETT
20 August 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersBYERS
19 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined2,000 acresAdams County OfficeDETER-WINTERS
19 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersBENNETT
19 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersBYERS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Adams County

Storms near this place

16 since 2015

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2024Tornado (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 2024Tornado (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 2024Tornado (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 2022Thunderstorm WindLeader-Strong outflow winds damaged four power poles which downed power lines.
June 2021Tornado (EF0)Leader-A landspout touched down briefly in an open field. No damage was observed.
June 2021Tornado (EF0)Leader-A landspout touched down briefly in an open field. No damage was observed.
June 2021Tornado (EF0)Leader-A landspout touched down briefly in an open field. No damage was observed.
June 2021Tornado (EF0)Leader-A landspout touched down briefly in an open field. No damage was observed.
May 2016Thunderstorm WindLeader-Straight-line winds sheared several power poles off at the base.
May 2015Tornado (EF0)Leader-A tornado briefly touched down in open country. No damage was observed.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindLeader-no account filed
August 2024Thunderstorm WindLeader-no account filed
May 2023HailLeader-no account filed
August 2023HailLeader-no account filed
August 2018HailLeader-no account filed
May 2016HailLeader-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Adams 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
Cabin Creek11.0 miles15
Shamrock12.8 miles8
Living Springs13.0 miles15
Comanche14.2 miles15
Strasburg18.0 miles14
Bennett21.9 miles17
Manila26.6 miles14
Watkins31.1 miles19

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 LeaderAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6508472The 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.