Saturday, October 17, 2026

The Cal-Wood Fire starts near Jamestown and becomes Boulder County's largest

2020 · Jamestown / Boulder County

On October 17, 2020, around 12:22 p.m., a wildfire was reported near the Cal-Wood Education Center outside Jamestown. It became the Cal-Wood Fire, burned about 10,100 acres, and remains the largest by acreage in Boulder County history. It destroyed 20 homes.

A Red Flag Warning had gone into effect at noon. Strong winds pushed the fire east from the foothills toward U.S. 36. Smoke was visible from Denver. Evacuation orders eventually covered nearly 5,000 people, including Jamestown. Crews sheltered hundreds of animals. Twenty homes and two cabins were lost, mostly on the east side of the burn. Investigators later narrowed the origin to a small area near Jamestown but could not determine a cause.

A second fire, Lefthand Canyon, started the next day near Ward and stayed smaller. Cooler, wetter weather helped. The Cal-Wood Fire was declared 100 percent contained on November 14 after a month. It is still the county's acreage record. The post-fire flood risk in the drainages below remains part of the conversation every wet spring.

Sources: Boulder County · Colorado Sun · Denver Post

Sugarloaf's Green-Eyed Lady peaks at number three, organ solo and all

1970 · Denver / Boulder foothills

On October 17, 1970, Sugarloaf's Green-Eyed Lady reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The Denver band had taken its name from a mountain west of Boulder after the label decided Chocolate Hair would not do.

Keyboardist Jerry Corbetta wrote the hook from a scale exercise and the lyrics about his Denver girlfriend Kathy Peacock, whom the rest of the band called the green-eyed lady. The album version runs nearly seven minutes so Corbetta can play the Jimmy Smith-style organ solo that still gets argued about in classic-rock circles. The radio edit is shorter. It held the number-three spot the following week too.

The band had come out of the Moonrakers and other Denver nightclub groups. They recorded the debut in Hollywood, but the mountain name stuck. Decades later people still hear it on the radio and know it is from here, even if they have never driven up to the actual Sugarloaf.

(The band later had another hit, Don't Call Us, We'll Call You, but this is the one that peaked on this date.)

Sources: Wikipedia · Colorado Music Experience · Songfacts

October 17 in Denver: 86 degrees in 1926, 19 degrees in 1999, and 13 inches of wet snow in 1908

1926 · Denver

Denver's October 17 records include a high of 86°F in 1926, a low of 19°F in 1999, 5.0 inches of snow in 1925, and 13.0 inches of wet snow downtown over October 17–19 in 1908.

In 1908 rain on the 17th turned to snow and the three-day total downtown was 13 inches; melting kept the depth lower. In 1989 an autumn storm left 4.4 inches at Stapleton and knocked out power to thousands of homes in Boulder when wet snow loaded the still-leafy trees. In 1925 the date itself saw 5.0 inches, the most recorded on the 17th.

In 1926 it hit 86, still the warmest October 17 on the books. In 1999 the low was 19. Average high is about 65. You can get a late-summer afternoon or a first freeze and still be on schedule. The coat check remains a negotiation.

(There are also wind stories: 48 mph sustained in 1878, 62 mph gusts in Boulder in 1988. October keeps a full set of options.)

Sources: Extreme Weather Watch · Thornton Weather · NWS Denver/Boulder