Author - News

Columns, Opinion

Drought persists, but relief may be en route

Ouray County remains in serious drought, as it was last month. Most of Colorado’s mountains are in extreme/ exceptional drought; the northern San Juan...

June 24, 2026

Columns, Opinion

Will Super El Niño boost winter snow? Stay tuned

A “9,000 mile “freight train of warm water” — a Kelvin wave — “hundreds of feet deep” in the Pacific Ocean has surged eastward toward Peru since April...

May 27, 2026

Columns, Opinion

Super El Niño could be boon for parched area

After three months of desperately dry Colorado weather, there’s finally good news. ENSO-neutral conditions are now present and favored from April-June...

April 29, 2026

Columns, Opinion

Is there relief for brutally warm, dry March?

Early this month, spring 2026 seemed to be yet another hot, droughty season across the West. Since then, March has been abysmally dry and scarily warm...

March 25, 2026

Columns, Opinion

Wet snow, later sunsets mark spring’s approach

Thanks to warming sun, wet snow showers, spells of shirtsleeve weather, earlier sunrises and later sunsets, meteorological spring (March 1) is upon us...

February 25, 2026

Columns, Opinion

Despite weekend storm, 2026 starts warm and dry

The year 2025, Ouray’s hottest year ever recorded, began with a very cold, dry month. January 2025’s mean temperatures were 4.8 degrees below normal b...

January 28, 2026

Main, News...

Firefighters gain ground on Gold Mountain Fire

Sheriff allows some evacuees to return home; blaze shifts away from populated areas

By By Mike Wiggins, Erin McIntyre and Deb Hurley Brobst mike@ouraynews.com erin@ouraynews.com

July 8, 2026

Residents forced to flee the Gold Mountain Fire north of Ouray nearly two weeks ago returned to charred landscapes but fully intact homes Wednesday, an indication that authorities believe the threat h...

Main, News...

Despite fire, downsized Fourth celebration marches on

By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com

July 8, 2026

A scaled-back Fourth of July celebration of the 250th birthday of the United States and 150th birthday of Ouray attracted thousands to the city, despite the cancellation of fireworks, water fights and...

News

First fire, then floods? Leaders start planning for next potential emergency

By Deb Hurley Brobst Special to the Plaindealer

July 8, 2026

Even though the Gold Mountain Fire is still burning, Ouray County officials are already thinking about flash flood risks in the burn scar as Colorado moves into monsoon season. “This is a predictable ...

News

Water providers ask customers to pull back

Ridgway enacts mandatory irrigation restrictions

By Mike Wiggins and Erin McIntyre mike@ouraynews.com erin@ouraynews.com

July 8, 2026

Water managers in Ouray County are asking residents to curtail water use and avoid putting more demand on their distribution systems in light of the Gold Mountain Fire and ongoing tinder-dry condition...

News

Looking Back

50 Years Ago

July 8, 2026

July 7, 1966 Charges have been filed in Ouray County Court against three Ouray youths for violation of state statutes in climbing over a fence at the municipal swimming pool last Friday and breaking b...

Karen Risch

Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines