diff --git a/components/esmterrain/storage.cpp b/components/esmterrain/storage.cpp
index 35ec814aa2..b43b996996 100644
--- a/components/esmterrain/storage.cpp
+++ b/components/esmterrain/storage.cpp
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ namespace ESMTerrain
                     color[i] = colourData->getColors()[srcArrayIndex + i];
 
             // Does nothing by default, override in OpenMW-CS
-            if (alteration)
+            if (alteration && heightData != nullptr)
                 adjustColor(col, row, heightData, color);
 
             // Unlike normals, colors mostly connect seamlessly between cells, but not always...