Melrose, Alabama

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Ethelsville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35461. It stands on Little Coal Fire Creek. The Survey maps it on the Reform quadrangle.

Melrose within Pickens County

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 12 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.

1953 USGS West Point quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1958 USGS West Point quadrangle1:250000
1963 USGS West Point quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1967 USGS Reform quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
1984 USGS West Point quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings

Fires near this place

73 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 73 fires within 5 miles of Melrose between 1994 and 2017, burning about 711 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 21 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	23
Arson/incendiarism	21
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	9
Natural	7
Recreation and ceremony	4
Railroad operations and maintenance	3
Equipment and vehicle use	3
Misuse of fire by a minor	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	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
9 September 1998	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
8 September 2013	Arson/incendiarism	28 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	NWR-20130908-001
5 September 2000	Natural	20 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
21 September 2016	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	20160921-1
21 September 1999	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
19 September 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	20170919-3
19 September 2000	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
18 September 2000	Debris and open burning	4.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Pickens County

Storms near this place

5 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Melrose in 5 storm reports between 2010 and 2016: 2 hail, 2 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
February 2016	Tornado (EF0)	Melrose	-	National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in Pickens County and have determined that the damage was consistent with an EF-0 tornado. Winds were estimated to be around 85 mph.\|\|The tornado touched down between Keasler Road and Heritage Road just north of the railroad tracks. It moved northeast crossing County Road 30, County Road 35, U.S. Highway 82, and Price Road Causing only tree damage. The tornado lifted before reaching County Road 45.
November 2016	Tornado (EF1)	Melrose	-	National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern Pickens County just northeast of Ethelsville and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF-1 tornado, with maximum winds estimated near 95 mph.\|\|The tornado touched down about 5 miles northeast of Ethelsville on County Road 35. A few trees were snapped off around this location but the initial damage was rather minor. The tornado continued northeast and crossed Antiach Church Road where it continued snapping off and uprooting trees. The tornado then approached County Road 34 where the tornado was at its maximum intensity. Numerous trees were snapped off and were uprooted on both sides of the tornado path. Several outbuildings were either damaged or destroyed. The tornado continued northeast where it crossed Shawtone Road, Woodard Road, and Miller Road. The tornado lifted just before it crossed County Road 27. There were sporadic trees blown down within one mile on the southern side path. This damage was due to strong inflow winds into the storm.
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Melrose	-	Several dozen trees were uprooted across the northern part of the county.
April 2013	Hail	Melrose	-	no account filed
April 2010	Hail	Melrose	-	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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
McShan	1.5 miles	12
Beards Mill	1.9 miles	12
Coal Fire	1.9 miles	12
Delma	3.6 miles	12
Ethelsville	5.5 miles	12
Reform	5.5 miles	12
Macedonia	6.1 miles	12
Bethlehem	6.2 miles	12

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 156697. 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.