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Watson, Arkansas

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1935 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Red Fork Township. It lies in ZIP code area 71674. The Survey maps it on the Watson quadrangle. 185 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 148 feet above sea level.

Watson within Desha County

Population over time

2 figures

Watson fell from 211 to 185 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
2010211
2020185-26 (-12%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 13 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

2 since 2011

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Watson between 2011 and 2015, burning about 7 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Debris and open burning1

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
28 April 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
14 February 2015Debris and open burning7.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Desha County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Watson: 2 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Desha County

Storms near this place

17 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Watson in 17 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 9 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 3 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. 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 2011Thunderstorm WindWatson$200,000One house was destroyed, and a house and business sustained major damage. Trees and power lines were blown down. Power was knocked out to the entire town.
August 1993Thunderstorm WindWatson$50,000Thunderstorm winds downed trees, power lines and power poles.
April 2009Thunderstorm WindWatson$15,000A large shed shifted on its foundation. A metal roof on a house sustained damage.
August 1993Thunderstorm WindWatson$5,000Several trees were blown down.
February 2012Thunderstorm WindWatson$2,000A few trees were downed along Arkansas 1 in Watson.
August 2010Flash FloodWatson$1,000Street flooding occurred in Watson.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindWatson-Powerlines were blown down along Highway 1 in Watson.
January 2020Thunderstorm WindWatson-Power lines were downed along Hwy 1 at Watson.
September 2020Heavy RainWatson-This was the 12 hour rainfall. Five inches of rain was measured in Watson as of the prior evening.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindWatson-A few trees were down in the area.
December 2015Flash FloodWatson-Some streets were flooded in Watson.
August 2005Thunderstorm WindWatson-Several large trees were downed.
June 2003Flash FloodWatson-Several roads were flooded near the Norrell Lock and Dam.
June 1995HailWatson-Hail the size of quarters dented vehicles and caused roof damage.
December 2018HailWatson-no account filed
February 2017HailWatson-no account filed
May 1995HailWatson-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Desha 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
Littles (historical)1.6 miles13
Lacy (historical)2.0 miles12
Red Fork2.9 miles13
Yancopin3.7 miles12
Kurdo (historical)4.6 miles13
Pea Ridge4.6 miles13
Zellner (historical)5.7 miles13
Medford (historical)6.1 miles13

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 WatsonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q79273The 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 56106. 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.