Geiger, Alabama
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Panola-Geiger census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35459. The Survey maps it on the Geiger quadrangle. 155 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 167 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresGeiger fell from 170 to 155 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 170 | |
| 2020 | 155 | -15 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1953 USGS Meridian quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Meridian quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Meridian quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Geiger quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS De Kalb quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
22 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of Geiger between 1994 and 2017, burning about 223 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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 burning | 10 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Mississippi Forestry Commission | not named |
| 26 September 1994 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Mississippi Forestry Commission | not named |
| 25 August 2005 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Mississippi Forestry Commission | not named |
| 17 June 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Mississippi Forestry Commission | not named |
| 13 June 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | N. HWY 17, AL |
| 10 June 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20170610-1 |
| 18 May 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Mississippi Forestry Commission | MS0 1111-2350518001 |
| 6 March 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | WINDY HILL AREA, AL |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
11 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Geiger in 11 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 4 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. The reports record 2 injuries. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2011 | Tornado (EF2) | Geiger | 2 hurt, $1,000,000 | A tornado touched down in Kemper County Mississippi (See Storm Data Jackson), near Scooba, and tracked northeast into Sumter County, Alabama at a point just north of Henley Rd, northwest of Geiger. The tornado continued as an EF2 rating as it entered Alabama, with winds of 130 mph. It knocked down trees along Mt Tabor Rd and AL Hwy 17. The tornado caused extensive tree damage along CR 34, near Panola, where it knocked down an entire section of pine forest. The average path width in Sumter County is 0.5 mile (880yds). The tornado continued northeast across north Sumter County and moved into southern Pickens County just west of CR 85. |
| April 2011 | Tornado (EF3) | Geiger | $6,880,000 | A tornado touched down in Neshoba County Mississippi. It tracked northeastward through Kemper County Mississippi before it crossed the Mississippi, Alabama state line approximately 1.5 miles north of Sumter County Road 30. As it entered Alabama, the tornado was an EF-3 with winds estimated between 140-150 mph. In Sumter County, numerous homes and businesses in the town of Geiger sustained extensive damage. As the tornado continued to move east, thousands of trees were either snapped or uprooted. The tornado lifted near the Tombigbee River at the Sumter, Greene County line. |
| March 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Geiger | $10,000 | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Geiger | $2,000 | Quarter size hail fell across northern Sumter County from near Geiger to near Gainesville. |
| August 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Geiger | $1,000 | Several trees were blown down in Geiger. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Geiger | - | Penny-size hail reported west of Geiger and Panola. |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Geiger | - | Multiple trees uprooted and power lines downed in the town of Geiger. |
| April 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Geiger | - | Several trees uprooted and power lines downed in the town of Geiger. |
| March 2012 | Flash Flood | Geiger | - | Several culverts along Highway 17 reached their bank full, due to heavy rainfall in the area. The water flowed into the surrounding low lying area and into several homes. |
| March 2003 | Hail | Geiger | - | Penny size hail was observed near Geiger. |
| July 2012 | Hail | Geiger | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair Oaks | 5.7 miles | 8 | |
| Panola | 6.0 miles | 8 | |
| Warsaw | 7.2 miles | 8 | |
| Gainesville | 8.4 miles | 8 | |
| Hamner | 8.8 miles | 8 | |
| Emelle | 9.6 miles | 8 | |
| Bethel (historical) | 9.6 miles | 8 | |
| Sumterville | 11.3 miles | 13 |
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 Geiger | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q68403 | The 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 118884. 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.
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.




