Reviewing the annual summary for 2016 has convinced me I need to get completely out of the prediction business. I stated "No 2 years of weather have ever been the same in Colorado. I have no predictions for 2017 other than it will be different than 2016." I was partially right, many hazards came to prominence in 2017 that were insignificant in 2016 but there was plenty of the same from 2016 in 2017. All I can say after many years of observation is the West Slope of Colorado is generally a far safer place to live than the rest of Colorado.
2017 was the year of people falling off cliffs and mountains in Colorado. 20 people died in 2017 hiking, climbing 14ers, or rock climbing, far surpassing what I thought was a record year in 2016. Another 18 were injured. Most fell off cliffs, rock faces or trails in icy or otherwise bad weather conditions. Many died rock climbing with insufficient experience and inadequate equipment. It is truly sad what a combination of ignorance and exaggerated belief in one's abilities can produce. An article from August summarizes 11 fatalities on Colorado 14ers. 6 of the 11 climbers fell to their death off Capitol Peak's infamous knife edge alone. Anyone interested in the details of each individual tragedy can read the individual posts on this blog.
Lots of snow in the mountains in January through March gave skiers delight while causing many avalanches and traffic accidents. At the same time the lower foothills and eastern plains experienced high winds, record warmth, drought and wildfires. A 32,000 acre wildfire in Logan County March 6 and 7 was the largest. Drought, record warmth, dry windy conditions and wildfires continued from September through December. Massive wildfires throughout the western US and British Columbia sent heavy smoke and health advisories to Colorado. I found and posted over 100 reports of wildfires in Colorado for 2017 and may have missed some. Most were small and put out quickly but high winds fanned several large wildfires throughout Colorado.
12 people were killed at Colorado ski resorts after hitting trees. In the backcountry there was only 1 fatality and a few injuries in 2017. There were no reports of treewell incidents and only 3 avalanche incidents. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center attributes their education efforts for the low number of backcountry incidents.
Lots of snow along the Front Range in Late April and May temporarily ended drought conditions and put a damper on wildfires while downing power lines and producing a few landslides in the state and some rockfall. Snowmelt caused high waters in Colorado's rivers that resulted in injuries and death for ill-advised rafters and swimmers. A May 8 severe hailstorm in Denver Metro with up to baseball-sized hail destroyed thousands of cars and damaged thousands of roofs including the entire Colorado Mills Mall roof which had to be shut down for repairs until November. The most costly hailstorm in Colorado history at over $2 billion, far surpassed the previous record July, 1990 storm. My daughter had the bad luck to be shopping at Colorado Mills on May 8 and her car was one of the many unfortunate victims.
Up to 100 mph winds and sporadic snowstorms in January, February, March, October and December knocked over semi-trailers, downed power lines and dropped large trees onto houses and cars. An elderly woman and a man in Colorado Springs were killed in separate incidents by high winds. Oddly enough, there were very few tornadoes in Colorado this year and none above EF0. The wild swings in weather along the Front Range during the winter months produced dangerous ice conditions on ponds. Many dogs, horses and a few children were rescued after falling through thin ice. An Aurora boy was not so lucky in January and was unable to be saved.
2 people were killed and 2 injured by lightning strikes in 2017. A Littleton woman and her horse were killed by a lightning strike during a storm in May. A teenager riding next to her was injured and hospitalized. A Durango mountain biker riding with his girlfriend near the Lizard Head Wilderness during a lightning storm was struck down in August. His surviving girlfriend was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. It is not a good idea to elevate yourself above the ground surface in an open and exposed area during a lightning storm. If you ever find yourself in this situation, dismount and get to the lowest spot in nearby terrain and lay or crouch down until the lightning stops. Do not seek shelter under a tree. If you are with a group of people, do not huddle together.
It was a relatively mild season for West Nile, 68 cases with 2 fatalities centered mostly in the Fort Collins-Greeley-Longmont area. There were no reports that I could find of human cases of any tick fever in Colorado in 2017. Colorado DOH reports 3 cases of tularemia, no human cases of plague and 1 non-fatal case of hantavirus.
There were 4600 wildlife-vehicle collisions as of October. 3 people were killed and 4 injured when an SUV collided with a bear on I-70 near Rifle. None of the occupants in the SUV were wearing seat belts and all were ejected from the vehicle. 2 were injured in a collision with a bear near Mancos. Coyote attacks on pets along the Front Range increased dramatically in 2017 and far surpassed mountain lion attacks on pets for the first time. Off-leash dogs provoked 6 moose attacks and one elk attack on their owners, who in some cases were hospitalized.
Bears got into lots of trouble breaking into cars, pizza shops and homes looking for goodies. A woman near Aspen and a teen near Boulder were attacked by bears while in their tents. Both survived with minor injuries. Aspen area bear problems tripled in 2017 from 2016. Over 170 bears were euthanized in Colorado in 2017 by wildlife officials under the 2 strikes and out law, a record number. Over 110 were tagged and relocated after their first strike for bad behavior. A few communities mandated bear-proof garbage containers to avoid bear incidents.
There were 49 small earthquakes of Magnitude 4 or less in Colorado in 2017. Activity was centered around oil and gas operations near Rangely, the Roan Plateau and Trinidad. A swarm of 15 small earthquakes occurred near Marble in January.
3 large asteroids flew by earth in 2017. NASA's Planetary Defense Office has kept track of most large asteroids, but several smaller asteroids that could do considerable damage if they hit the earth were discovered only a few days before they flew by.
It is my hope that people will read and learn from the relatively few unfortunate encounters with nature in Colorado each year. To all the outdoor enthusiasts in Colorado, have a Safe and Happy New Year.
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