BlockBefore

Natural Dam, Arkansas

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1898 and the latest in 1978. It stands in District 1. It lies in ZIP code area 72948. It stands on Mountain Fork. The Survey maps it on the Natural Dam quadrangle. It stands 663 feet above sea level.

Natural Dam within Crawford County

On record in Natural Dam

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 2 records

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 16 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

164 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 164 fires within 5 miles of Natural Dam between 1992 and 2020, burning about 5,965 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 103 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
Arson/incendiarism103
Debris and open burning25
Missing data/not specified/undetermined23
Recreation and ceremony4
Equipment and vehicle use3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Smoking1
Natural1

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 2000Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
30 September 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined30 acresOzark-St. Francis National ForestsSHILOH RD.
3 September 1998Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
28 September 2003Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsSHILOH
10 September 1998Arson/incendiarism10 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
7 August 2012Natural1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
31 August 2010Debris and open burning5.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
31 August 2010Debris and open burning226 acresOklahoma Division of Forestry30462

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Crawford County

Storms near this place

38 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Natural Dam in 38 storm reports between 1993 and 2017: 17 thunderstorm wind, 16 hail, 3 flash flood, 2 tornado. 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
April 1996Tornado (F1)Natural Dam$75,000no account filed
May 2011HailNatural Dam$25,000no account filed
March 2017Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam$10,000Strong thunderstorm wind blew down a tree onto a house.
April 2017Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam$5,000Strong thunderstorm wind blew down power lines, and damaged buildings.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam$5,000Strong thunderstorm wind blew down the steeple of a local church. Numerous large tree limbs were also blown down by the wind.
May 1999Tornado (F3)Natural Dam$3,000A significant long-track tornado first developed 4 miles west of Short, OK, moving northeast to about 7 miles southwest of Fayetteville, AR. This tornado reached its peak strength as an F3 tornado as it clipped extreme southeast Adair County, OK. This tornado then clipped extreme northwest Crawford County, passing through an unpopulated, forested area in the Ozark National Forest. An aerial survey by NWS personnel just west of the Oklahoma/Arkansas state line west of Natural Dam revealed that every tree in a hardwood forest was completely leveled. Property damage listed with this entry reflects tree damage sustained in Crawford County, while the F-rating reflects the tornado's peak strength in Adair County, OK.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam$1,000Numerous trees were blown down.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam$500A church sign was blown down.
April 2017Flash FloodNatural Dam-Natural Dam Road was closed due to flooding.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Strong thunderstorm wind blew down a tree.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Several trees were blown down by strong thunderstorm winds, partially blocking Highway 59.
August 2013Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Strong thunderstorm wind blew down large tree limbs, blocking the roadway north of Natural Dam.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Strong thunderstorm wind blew down large tree limbs.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Strong thunderstorm wind blew down a few large tree limbs and one dead tree.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Thunderstorm wind gusts to 60 mph were estimated by emergency management personnel.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Strong thunderstorm wind blew down large tree limbs.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Strong thunderstorm wind blew down several trees just southeast of the Davidson community, along Highway 59.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down a few large trees. The trees blocked Highway 59.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew down large tree limbs.
February 2008Flash FloodNatural Dam-Runoff from locally heavy rainfall resulted in flooding of roads in Mountainburg and Van Buren.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down several trees.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindNatural Dam-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew down large tree limbs.
April 2011HailNatural Dam-no account filed
May 2010HailNatural Dam-no account filed
February 2009HailNatural Dam-no account filed
May 2008HailNatural Dam-no account filed
January 2006HailNatural Dam-no account filed
April 2006HailNatural Dam-no account filed
September 2006HailNatural Dam-no account filed
February 2005HailNatural Dam-no account filed
November 2005HailNatural Dam-no account filed
July 2003HailNatural Dam-no account filed
April 1999HailNatural Dam-no account filed
May 1999HailNatural Dam-no account filed
April 1998HailNatural Dam-no account filed
February 1998HailNatural Dam-no account filed
September 1996Flash FloodNatural Dam-no account filed
April 1993HailNatural Dam-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Crawford 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
Lee Creek3.3 miles16
Barcelona3.8 miles16
Uniontown5.1 miles16
Davidson5.6 miles16
Cedarville5.6 miles17
Rosedale (historical)6.9 miles16
Hobbtown7.1 miles17
Stop (historical)7.2 miles15

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 Natural DamAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6980473The 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 72836. 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.