According to the Köppen climate classification system, Golden Horn is located in an alpine subarctic climate zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers. Due to its altitude, it receives precipitation all year, as snow in winter, and as thunderstorms in summer, with a dry period in late spring. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains west into tributaries of the Dolores River, and east to the Animas River via Mineral Creek.
^James Dziezynski, Climbing Colorado's Thirteeners: The Best Hikes and Scrambles Over 13,000 Feet, 2021, Falcon Guides, ISBN9781493046218, page 198.
^Henry Gannett, Gazetteer of Colorado, 1906, US Government Printing Office, page 77.
^Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11. ISSN1027-5606.