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Rio Blanco, Colorado

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Meeker census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81650. The Survey maps it on the Rio Blanco quadrangle.

Rio Blanco within Rio Blanco County

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 18 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

9 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Rio Blanco between 1992 and 2018, burning about 1,179 acres in total. 4 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
Natural4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Equipment and vehicle use1
Debris and open burning1

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
18 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorthwest District, CraigBEAR CREEK
11 August 1992Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionOLD TIMBER
8 July 2017Natural43 acresNorthwest District, CraigDEER GULCH
8 July 1993Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionW HARRIS
30 July 1992Natural1.0 acresNorthwest District, Grand JunctionHARRIS GUL
25 July 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNorthwest District, Grand JunctionGOVERNMENT
5 June 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
3 May 1998Debris and open burning150 acresNorthwest District, CraigSCHUTTE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Rio Blanco County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Rio Blanco: 1 occurrence, 1 past producer, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Uranium, Vanadium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Rio BlancoUranium, VanadiumPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Unknown Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Rio Blanco County

Storms near this place

21 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rio Blanco in 21 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 10 flash flood, 7 debris flow, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood. The reports record 5 injuries. 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
July 2005Flash FloodRio Blanco5 hurt, $80,000no account filed
July 2005Flash FloodRio Blanco$20,000no account filed
July 1996Flash FloodRio Blanco$12,000no account filed
September 2025Debris FlowRio Blanco$5,000Law Enforcement reported a mudslide at Mile Marker 1.5 on Rio Blanco County Route 5, closing the road and requiring clearing. The debris was cleared within half an hour. This area is within the Lee Burn Scar.
August 2009Flash FloodRio Blanco$5,000Flash flood waters flowed across Rio Blanco County Road 5 in several places with water over a foot deep in some spots. A large mudslide came down across the road near mile marker 18. It took two days to move mud and debris off and away from the road and to make repairs. Additionally, major soil erosion was reported on some privately owned ranch and farmland in the basin.
July 2022Debris FlowRio Blanco$1,500A mudslide occurred along County Road 5 near mile marker 12 near Piceance Creek as a result of heavy rain from thunderstorms.
August 2025Debris FlowRio Blanco-This incident was reported to the NWS Grand Junction office by the NWS Incident Meteorologist assigned to the Lee Wildfire. Debris flowed across County Road 5 from due to heavy rain on the adjacent Lee burn scar. A tractor trailer attempted to drive through the debris flow and became stuck. The truck was eventually unstuck and the road was cleared. No damages or injuries or fatalities were reported.
August 2025Debris FlowRio Blanco-The NWS Incident Meteorologist assigned to the Lee Fire reported this event to NWS Grand Junction. Mud and debris were confirmed to be flowing across Rio Blanco County Road 5 at mile marker 6 and mile marker 12, making the road impassable. As a result, County Road 5 was closed from miles marker 12 to the intersection with Highway 13 for roughly half an hour.
August 2025Flash FloodRio Blanco-This incident was reported to NWS Grand Junction by the NWS Incident Meteorologist deployed to the Lee Wildfire. Water was reported as flowing over Highway 13 adjacent to the Lee Burn Scar, near the incident on County Road 5, and south of the town of Meeker. All of this water drains into the White River, and the gage on the White River below Meeker spiked from roughly 110 cfs to 1660 cfs, with a rise in water height of 3 feet.
August 2025Debris FlowRio Blanco-At approximately 1:18 PM MDT, a report reached NWS Grand Junction that heavy rain over the Lee Burn Scar had triggered a debris flow over Rio Blanco County Road 5 in the same area that had run on August 24th. This time, no vehicles were trapped and no other damage occurred, nor were any injuries or fatalities reported.
May 2020HailRio Blanco-A severe thunderstorm produced large hail estimated to be the size of quarters southwest of Meeker.
August 2017Flash FloodRio Blanco-Heavy rainfall, with radar estimates of nearly two inches of total rain within about an hour on the Roan Plateau, produced flash flooding several feet deep which came down drainages and ran across farm fields before ending up in Piceance Creek.
August 2017Debris FlowRio Blanco-A mudslide occurred on County Road 5 near the intersection of Colorado Highway 13 as a result of heavy rains.
August 2016Debris FlowRio Blanco-A mudslide had occurred along County Road 5 after heavy rain fell in that area.
July 2011Flash FloodRio Blanco-A flash flood over 6 inches deep flowed across the Piceance Creek Road, aka County Road 5, and left several inches of mud on the road.
June 2005Heavy RainRio Blanco-no account filed
September 2002FloodRio Blanco-no account filed
September 2001Thunderstorm WindRio Blanco-no account filed
August 2001Flash FloodRio Blanco-no account filed
August 1999Flash FloodRio Blanco-no account filed
August 1997Flash FloodRio Blanco-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Rio Blanco 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
Meeker20.8 miles16
Buford24.5 miles17
White River City28.5 miles11
Thornburgh35.0 miles17
Angora45.1 miles12
Rangely51.5 miles14

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 204656. 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.