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Chelsea, Alabama

23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Chelsea census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35043. It stands on Double Mountain Branch. The Survey maps it on the Chelsea quadrangle. 14,982 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 512 feet above sea level.

Chelsea within Shelby County

Population over time

2 figures

Chelsea grew from 10,183 to 14,982 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201010,183
202014,982+4,799 (+47%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 23 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

177 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 177 fires within 5 miles of Chelsea between 1994 and 2020, burning about 3,206 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 57 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning59
Arson/incendiarism57
Missing data/not specified/undetermined28
Recreation and ceremony14
Natural7
Railroad operations and maintenance5
Smoking3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Fireworks1
Equipment and vehicle use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2019Debris and open burning3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20190909-6
8 September 1999Natural220 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1995Debris and open burning2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1995Recreation and ceremony7.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 1995Debris and open burning3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 1995Debris and open burning16 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
30 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commission20200930-1
30 September 2016Debris and open burning2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160930-6

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Shelby County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Chelsea: 2 past producers, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Perlite, Vermiculite, Iron. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Irondale PlantVermiculitePast Producer
UnnamedIronUnknown
W. R. Grace Irondale PlantPerlitePast Producer

Every working recorded in Shelby County

Storms near this place

19 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chelsea in 19 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 9 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 1998Thunderstorm WindChelsea$380,000no account filed
August 2005Thunderstorm WindChelsea$8,000A few traffic lights were blown down in Inverness.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindChelsea$8,000Several trees and power lines were knocked down in Chelsea on CR 47 and on CR 39.
April 1998HailChelsea$5,000Golf ball size hail was reported by an off duty weather service employee.
April 2000HailChelsea$4,000Golfball size hail was reported in the Highland Lakes subdivision off US 280 near Chelsea. The hail was observed as rather soft but large.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindChelsea$3,000A few trees were blown down on Inverness Parkway, in the Inverness Community.
June 2002Thunderstorm WindChelsea$3,000Large trees and power lines were blown down near the intersection of SR 25 and CR 55.
July 2005Flash FloodChelsea$2,000Parts of US Highway 280 were flooded in and near Chelsea. The roads were temporarily impassable. A few trees also fell down near Chelsea due to the saturated ground conditions.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindChelsea$2,000Former NWS Employee reported 60 mile an hour winds and trees blown down in the Greystone Area.
April 1998HailChelsea$2,000Hail the size of quarters was reported along US 280 near Greystone.
May 1995Thunderstorm WindChelsea$200Approximately 150 trees were blown down at the Greystone Country Club in northern Shelby County. Large trees were blown down in the Chelsea area of Shelby County.
August 2023HailChelsea-Quarter size hail reported in Chelsea.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindChelsea-Several trees uprooted and power lines downed in the city of Chelsea.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindChelsea-Several trees uprooted in the city of Chelsea.
May 1999HailChelsea-Quarter size hail was reported just east of US 280 between SR 119 and Interstate 459.
June 1998HailChelsea-Dime to nickel size hail was reported at Inverness on US 280.
April 1998HailChelsea-Dime size hail was reported in Inverness.
May 1998HailChelsea-no account filed
March 1998HailChelsea-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Shelby County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Yellowleaf Creek Estates3.0 miles20
Watkins3.4 miles23
East Saginaw4.0 miles23
Simmsville4.3 miles23
Eagle Point4.4 miles22
Heritage Oaks5.0 miles22
Westover5.0 miles20
Little Ridge Estates5.2 miles22

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on ChelseaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q67410The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 115991. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.