The Fort Garland plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
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−13° on Nov. 15, 1985, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1906. Next is −12° in 1940.
Fort Garland’s center stands about 7,930 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 7,770 ft to 8,380 ft, a difference of 610 ft: hilly country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Blanca Peak, about 14,240 ft, 11 miles north-northwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Gravels and alluviums (gravel, unconsolidated), from the Pleistocene, less than 0.5 million years old.
The section below crosses 5 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 3×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Gravel, unconsolidated. Age: Pleistocene, less than 0.5 million years old. About 9 mi of the line.
Gneiss. Age: Paleoproterozoic, 1.6 to 2.5 billion years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Siltstone, sandstone, conglomerate. Age: Miocene to Pliocene, 2.6 to 23 million years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Andesite. Age: Late Eocene to Early Oligocene, 30 to 35 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Gabbro, diorite. Age: Paleoproterozoic, 1.6 to 2.5 billion years old. About 2 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in Fort Garland reaches the Gulf of America by way of Ute Creek, Trinchera Creek and the Rio Grande: about 1,780 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Paz Ramirez Lake, Amistad Reservoir, Elephant Butte Reservoir and Caballo Reservoir.
760 miles of the trip are on the Rio Grande.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Fort Garland; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Fort Garland has a cold semi-arid climate. Summer afternoons average 83° in July; winter nights fall to about −1° in January. A normal year brings about 28 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 7 inches of water.
On November 14 Fort Garland normally reaches 49° and falls to 13°. The record high is 67°, in 2017; the record low −5°, in 1940. The most rain on this date, 0.54 in, fell in 1985.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1906 from the Alamosa Area threaded record (Alamosa-Bergman Field, 23 miles west, 390 ft lower). NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
