Wild Horse, Colorado
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Kit Carson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80862. The Survey maps it on the Wild Horse quadrangle. It stands 4,885 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 12 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.
- 1891 USGS Arroyo quadrangle1:125000
- 1893 USGS Arroyo quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Lamar quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Lamar quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1978 USGS Wild Horse quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Karval quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
9 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Wild Horse between 2003 and 2016, burning about 53 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 | 9 |
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 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 7 August 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 5 August 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 23 May 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 28 February 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | WILD HORSE |
| 17 February 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | WILD HORSE |
| 1 November 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | West Cheyenne Fire Protection District (Kit Carson Volunteer Fire Department) | UNKNOWN |
| 29 October 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | WILD HORSE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
60 of 88 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wild Horse in 88 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 51 hail, 24 thunderstorm wind, 9 tornado, 3 flash 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2009 | Hail | Wild Horse | $750,000 | The combination of hail and strong wind broke windows and stripped leaves off of trees. Wind speeds were estimated at 65 mph. |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | $175,000 | Report of roof damage, some windows blown out. Stock tanks and dumpsters tossed up to half a mile away to the southeast. A communications tower folded in half. Tons of dead trees and fences blown over and laying to the southeast as well. |
| August 2017 | Flash Flood | Wild Horse | $150,000 | An official for the railroad that runs by Wild Horse reported portions of track had been washed out along a five mile stretch from roughly CR R to CR 14. There were also public reports of water running over Highway 287/40 between CR R and CR 14. Rainfall estimates close to 2.50 occurred in this area in less than an hour time frame. Total amount of washed out track was not given; best guess is around 400 ft. |
| April 2007 | Tornado (EF0) | Wild Horse | $25,000 | Brief tornado on east side of town, or about Roads R, 9. The doors on a quonset hut were damaged, a trailer was pushed over and was leaning against a building. The cross on a church received minor damage. |
| June 2017 | Hail | Wild Horse | $5,000 | Quite a bit of golf ball size hail fell. The hail broke windows on the north side of the house. |
| July 2011 | Flash Flood | Wild Horse | $2,500 | Cheyenne county dispatch reports that County Road 8 is washed out both north and south of Wild Horse. Another report included water over the intersection of Road 8 and Highway 287. In addition, a co-op observer north of Wild Horse reported 2.64 inches of rain as of 709 pm MDT. |
| September 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | $1,000 | As a line of thunderstorms moved across Cheyenne County, strong wind gusts up to 60 mph scattered construction barrels and signs across Highway 287. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | $1,000 | Two limbs of unknown size were broken off trees and a 60 year old dead tree was blown over. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | $1,000 | Five to nine inch diameter limbs torn from trees. A ten foot long empty stock tank was blown 1/8 mile. A ten foot long metal feeder was damaged and blown 1/16 mile. Time of report estimated from radar and nearby storm reports. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Trained spotter with anemometer measured an 82 MPH gust at Wild Horse due to outflow wind gusts from the thunderstorm. |
| June 2024 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | Report from Spotter Network. |
| April 2021 | Tornado (EFU) | Wild Horse | - | This second tornado occurred simultaneously with a larger tornado (first tornado entered). This one was visually smaller according to storm chaser footage. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Report received of an estimated 65 mph thunderstorm wind gust at location. No damage reported. |
| September 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Report received of an estimated 50 to 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust at location. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | Report received of hail ranging from pea to penny size that fell at location for 15 minutes and covered the ground. |
| June 2020 | Tornado (EFU) | Wild Horse | - | Brief landspout tornado observed by NWS employee and Viaero webcam. This is the first observed landspout of the day. |
| June 2020 | Tornado (EFU) | Wild Horse | - | Brief landspout tornado observed by NWS employee and Viaero webcam. |
| June 2020 | Tornado (EFU) | Wild Horse | - | Third brief landspout tornado observed by NWS employee and Viaero webcam. This one began as the second landspout tornado of the day was ending. |
| August 2017 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | The hail was mostly quarter to ping-pong ball size, covering the ground. Wind driven hail broke windows. No report of how many windows were broken. |
| August 2017 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | The hail stripped leaves from the trees in town and covered the ground. The hail also broke some windows in town. No report of how many windows were broken. The hail ranged from dime to nickel in size. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Tree branches were blown down in the yard. Anemometer measured 54 MPH before failing. No size or number of tree branches blown down were given. |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Estimated gusts of 60 MPH with storms. |
| June 2014 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | Time estimated from Doppler radar. Two inches of rain fell in 15 minutes. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Estimated the wind gusts to be 75-80 MPH and were accompanied by Ping-Pong ball size hail. Also saw gustnado along the leading of the severe wind gusts. Estimated time of report from radar. |
| May 2013 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | Hail lasted 15-20 minutes. Estimated time of report from radar. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Estimated the wind gusts to be 60-70 MPH. The wind was accompanied by dime size hail and sheets of rainfall. Estimated time of report from radar. |
| July 2011 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | Trained spotter also reported estimated peak wind gust of 50 mph. |
| June 2011 | Tornado (EF0) | Wild Horse | - | The tornado remained over open fields with no known damage. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | Heavy rain and strong (non-severe) winds were also reported. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Spotter estimated the winds at 60 mph. |
| August 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Thunderstorm winds broke 3-inch diameter tree limbs. |
| October 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Observer reported thunderstorms winds that blew down a 6-inch diameter tree limb. |
| April 2007 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | Hail nearly covered the ground. |
| April 2007 | Tornado (EF0) | Wild Horse | - | No known damage...over open fields. Tornado developed near Roads R, 5 and dissipated near Roads R, 1. |
| April 2007 | Tornado (EF0) | Wild Horse | - | No known damage...over open fields. Tornado developed near Roads U, 1 (near the junction of Hwy 287 and Hwy 94) and exited the county near Roads U, 0, moving into Lincoln county. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Weather station at a private residence measured a 73 mph wind gust. |
| May 2004 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | Hail covered the ground 1 inch deep. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Six-inch tree limbs down. |
| June 2003 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | Dime-size hail covered the ground. |
| May 2001 | Tornado (F0) | Wild Horse | - | Brief tornado with no damage reported. |
| August 1999 | Flash Flood | Wild Horse | - | Water flooded over highway 40. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | Estimated 60 to 70 mph winds. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| June 2019 | Funnel Cloud | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| August 2019 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| May 2015 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| September 2009 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| September 2008 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Hail | Wild Horse | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aroya | 6.3 miles | 12 | |
| Fort Big Spring | 12.2 miles | 13 | |
| Kit Carson | 12.6 miles | 13 | |
| Mount Pearl | 15.1 miles | 13 | |
| Firstview | 25.0 miles | 13 | |
| Cheyenne Wells | 34.9 miles | 14 | |
| Old Wells | 36.7 miles | 14 | |
| Arapahoe | 44.0 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 Wild Horse | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q10992201 | 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 195193. 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.





