Paonia, Colorado
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 2001. It stands in the Paonia census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81428. It stands on Minnesota Creek. The Survey maps it on the Paonia quadrangle. 1,447 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,682 feet above sea level.
On record in Paonia
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 4 records
Bross Hotellisted 2015
Curtis Hardware Storelisted 1989
Mathews Houselisted 2004
Paonia First Christian Churchlisted 2011
Population over time
2 figuresPaonia fell from 1,451 to 1,447 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 | 1,451 | |
| 2020 | 1,447 | -4 (-0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 15 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 Montrose quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Montrose quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Montrose quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Paonia quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1968 USGS Montrose quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Paonia quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 2001 USGS Paonia quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
129 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 129 fires within 5 miles of Paonia between 1992 and 2020, burning about 470 acres in total. 95 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 95 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 September 2009 | Natural | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | RED TOP PEAK |
| 16 September 2009 | Natural | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | SOUTH JUMBO |
| 14 September 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | TERROR |
| 13 September 2001 | Natural | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | JUMBO |
| 13 September 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | GARVINMESA |
| 13 September 1993 | Natural | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | WAKEFIELD |
| 12 September 1993 | Natural | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | LOVE |
| 12 September 1993 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Southwest District, Montrose | JUMBO |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Paonia: 2 occurrences, 2 past producers, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Sand & Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sand and Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | Gravel | |
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | Gravel |
Storms near this place
5 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Paonia in 5 storm reports between 1993 and 2023: 1 hail, 1 tornado, 1 funnel cloud, 1 flood. 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 2023 | Debris Flow | Paonia | $2,000,000 | Excessive spring runoff and debris backing up in culverts led to a large sinkhole developing on Highway 133 north of Paonia and south of Somerset, Colorado between mile markers 14 and 19. This resulted in the closure of the highway to allow emergency repairs to be made. The sinking soils were first noticed on April 29, 2023 with the eventual collapse of the highway occurring on May 2, 2023. |
| May 2023 | Flood | Paonia | $2,500 | Accelerated snowmelt from a near-record snowpack due to above normal temperatures produced high and fast flow on the North Fork of the Gunnison River near Paonia, Colorado. This led to a power pole that was near the river to be washed out, resulting in a power outage for almost 700 people between Paonia and Hotchkiss. |
| July 1994 | Tornado (F0) | Paonia | - | A spotter reported a small tornado touched down in an open field northeast of Paonia (27 miles northeast of Montrose). No damage or injuries was reported. |
| August 1993 | Hail | Paonia | - | Marble-size hail caused major damage to the fruit and vegetable crops in the Paonia area (27 miles northeast of Montrose). |
| July 2003 | Funnel Cloud | Paonia | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coburn | 2.8 miles | 13 | |
| Bowie | 4.6 miles | 16 | |
| Juanita Junction | 5.2 miles | 16 | |
| Hotchkiss | 8.3 miles | 13 | |
| Crawford | 11.4 miles | 14 | |
| Lazear | 11.8 miles | 17 | |
| Rogers Mesa | 12.3 miles | 17 | |
| Payne | 17.1 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 Paonia | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1985830 | 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 186589. 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.






