BlockBefore

Gordo, Alabama

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Gordo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35466. It stands on Long Branch. The Survey maps it on the Gordo quadrangle. 1,628 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 282 feet above sea level.

Gordo within Pickens County

On record in Gordo

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Gordo fell from 1,750 to 1,628 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
20101,750
20201,628-122 (-7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 10 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

75 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 75 fires within 5 miles of Gordo between 1994 and 2016, burning about 894 acres in total. None started naturally. 20 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 burning22
Arson/incendiarism20
Railroad operations and maintenance14
Missing data/not specified/undetermined10
Recreation and ceremony5
Equipment and vehicle use3
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
6 September 1998Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1995Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1995Debris and open burning1.5 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
28 September 2000Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
28 September 1999Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
26 September 1998Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
12 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresAlabama Forestry CommissionNWR-20130912-001
17 August 1999Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Pickens County

Storms near this place

32 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gordo in 32 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 13 hail, 12 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 3 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
January 2008Tornado (EF1)Gordo$50,000The tornado touched down between Gordo and the Tuscaloosa County line, near the intersection of Ben Elmore Road and CR-33. From there, it travelled east-northeast before crossing into Tuscaloosa County. A barn and several old chicken houses on CR-33 east of Gordo sustained heavy damage.
April 1996Thunderstorm WindGordo$30,000no account filed
June 1997Flash FloodGordo$25,000Heavy rains forced the evacuation of between 7 and 10 families from their homes off US 82 in Gordo. Heavy rain also damaged a portion of Preacher Street.
May 1998Tornado (F0)Gordo$25,000no account filed
April 1998Tornado (F3)Gordo$15,000no account filed
April 2011Tornado (EF1)Gordo$11,000This tornado developed along a Quasi-Linear Convective System in far eastern Pickens County, 5.5 miles south southeast of Gordo and moved northeastward for 3.46 miles. It crossed into Tuscaloosa County just to the west of Holman, south of AL Hwy 140. This tornado continued for almost 19 miles in Tuscaloosa County before dissipating 2.5 miles east northeast of Samantha. The tornado touched down east of AL Hwy 63, along Grover Plate Rd where it uprooted many hardwood trees. The tornado continued to cause tree damage as it moved northeast and approached the Tuscaloosa County line. The tornado damage in Pickens County was consistent with an EF1 rating and winds of 90 mph.
October 2010Thunderstorm WindGordo$10,000A tree fell on a vehicle.
May 1998HailGordo$10,000Golf ball size hail was reported by storm spotters, near US 82 and SR 86.
July 1995Thunderstorm WindGordo$8,000no account filed
November 1997HailGordo$6,000Golf ball size hail was reported in Gordo, in the eastern part of the county.
March 2000HailGordo$5,000Golfball size hail was reported near Gordo.
March 2000HailGordo$4,000Quarter to half dollar size hail was reported in Gordo.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindGordo$1,000Several trees were blown down on CR-57, north of Gordo.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindGordo$1,000Several large limbs were blown down onto AL-86, near Gordo.
April 2005HailGordo$1,000Penny size hail was reported near Gordo.
April 2005HailGordo$1,000Penny size hail was reported in Gordo.
March 2025HailGordo-Social media photos of half dollar to ping pong ball size hail in Gordo.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindGordo-Several trees were downed in the Gordo area.
December 2024Thunderstorm WindGordo-Trees and power lines were downed on County Road 9 near Gordo.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindGordo-Trees uprooted and power lines downed along Mars Hill Road.
June 2023HailGordo-Baseball size hail reported southwest of Gordo with several car windows shattered and destroyed.
April 2021HailGordo-Large hail reported near the town of Gordo.
March 2021HailGordo-Tennis ball size hail reported near the town of Gordo.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindGordo-Several trees uprooted in the town of Gordo.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindGordo-Several trees uprooted and snapped in the town of Gordo.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindGordo-Several trees uprooted and power lines downed near the intersection of Highway 82 and 2nd Street Southwest in the town of Gordo.
January 2015Flash FloodGordo-Road washed out on Old Vienna Road near the intersection of Dr. Kirk Road. Several other roads flooded across the county.
September 2012Flash FloodGordo-Approximately 7 to 10 inches of water was reported covering Highway 82 in downtown Gordo. The bridges at 1st Avenue East and Ben Elmore Road were washed out. Also, twenty-five families had to be evacuated from their homes in the area.
May 2001HailGordo-Dime size hail fell in Gordo. One large tree was blown down blocking a road.
June 2000Thunderstorm WindGordo-Trees were blown down in Gordo.
March 2015HailGordo-no account filed
June 2008HailGordo-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Pickens 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
Bostic2.7 miles10
Bell3.3 miles10
Noland3.5 miles10
Fairview4.1 miles10
Kirk5.5 miles10
Lathrop5.9 miles10
Zion7.1 miles10
Reform7.2 miles12

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 GordoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q67487The 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 119169. 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.