Parachute, Colorado
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1929 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the West Garfield census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81635. It lies near Hayes Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Parachute quadrangle. 1,390 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,092 feet above sea level.
On record in Parachute
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 1 record
Wasson-McKay Placelisted 2010
Population over time
2 figuresParachute grew from 1,085 to 1,390 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 | 1,085 | |
| 2020 | 1,390 | +305 (+28%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 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.
- 1929 USGS Grand Valley quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Grand Valley quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Parachute quadrangle1:24000
- 1964 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Grand Junction quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
244 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 244 fires within 5 miles of Parachute between 1992 and 2020, burning about 944 acres in total. 113 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 | 113 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 107 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2016 | Smoking | under an acre | Grand Valley Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 7 September 1993 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | PETE-N-BIL |
| 7 September 1993 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | PARACHT NW |
| 6 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 5 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Grand Valley Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 5 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19 acres | Northwest District, Grand Junction | MEDIAN |
| 5 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | CRAIG |
| 4 September 2009 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | COTTONWOOD GULCH |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Parachute: 1 occurrence, 1 past producer. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | Sand and Gravel | |
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
10 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Parachute in 10 storm reports between 1997 and 2007: 3 flash flood, 2 wildfire, 2 heavy rain, 1 lightning. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1998 | Lightning | Parachute | $50,000 | no account filed |
| September 1997 | Flash Flood | Parachute | $2,000 | no account filed |
| September 2007 | Heavy Rain | Parachute | - | Standing water reported in Parachute along Yampa Avenue and at Cottonwood Park. |
| October 2005 | Hail | Parachute | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Heavy Rain | Parachute | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Wildfire | Parachute | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Wildfire | Parachute | - | no account filed |
| September 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Parachute | - | no account filed |
| September 1997 | Flash Flood | Parachute | - | no account filed |
| September 1997 | Flash Flood | Parachute | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battlement Mesa | 1.6 miles | 16 | |
| Una | 4.7 miles | 16 | |
| Rulison | 6.7 miles | 13 | |
| Anvil Points | 8.2 miles | 23 | |
| Rifle | 15.4 miles | 20 | |
| Antlers | 18.3 miles | 20 | |
| Silt | 22.1 miles | 20 | |
| New Castle | 28.6 miles | 20 |
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 Parachute | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1823495 | 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 174253. 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.









