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Chinle, Arizona

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Chinle census division. It lies in ZIP code area 86503. It stands on Cottonwood Wash. The Survey maps it on the Chinle quadrangle. 4,573 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,505 feet above sea level.

Chinle within Apache County

On record in Chinle

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

Surveyed buildings and structures 6 records

Population over time

2 figures

Chinle grew from 4,518 to 4,573 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
20104,518
20204,573+55 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 15 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.

Photographs

1 photograph,

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Antelope House Ruin, Canyon del Muerto, Chinle, Apache County, AZ
Antelope House Ruin, Canyon del Muerto, Chinle, Apache County, AZ
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

55 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 55 fires within 5 miles of Chinle between 1994 and 2020, burning about 111 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 11 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 burning23
Arson/incendiarism11
Missing data/not specified/undetermined9
Natural5
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Other causes1
Smoking1
Recreation and ceremony1

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
3 September 2010Naturalunder an acreCanyon De Chelly National MonumentARROW FIRE
26 September 2005Debris and open burning10 acresNavajo Region Fire and Aviation ManagementCAPCONTROL
19 September 2006Other causesunder an acreCanyon De Chelly National MonumentWHITE HOUSE TRAIL
19 August 2019Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNavajo Region Fire and Aviation ManagementDEL MUERTO 1
5 July 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNavajo Region Fire and Aviation ManagementNORTH RIM
5 July 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreCanyon De Chelly National MonumentTRASH FIRE
4 July 2011Debris and open burningunder an acreNavajo Region Fire and Aviation ManagementCHINLE IHS SW
2 July 2017Debris and open burning5.0 acresNavajo Region Fire and Aviation ManagementTSEGI

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Apache County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Chinle: 7 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Uranium, 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
Many Farms-Bia PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Uranium DepositUraniumUnknown
Uranium DepositUraniumUnknown
Uranium DepositUraniumUnknown
Uranium DepositsUraniumUnknown
Uranium DepositsUraniumUnknown
Zealy-Tso Drilling BlockUraniumUnknown

Every working recorded in Apache County

Storms near this place

14 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chinle in 14 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 10 flash flood, 2 flood, 1 funnel cloud, 1 hail. 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
August 1997Flash FloodChinle$1,000Several reports of flooding around the Chinle area. First reports were received northwest of Chinle near the community of Rough Rock where Reservation Route 59 was impassable due to floodwaters. The last reports were received near Chinle where Reservation Route 27 was also flooded over.
April 2023FloodChinle-The Navajo Nation Emergency Manager reported flooding in Chinle on the Chinle Creek early on April 23. The flood warning was downgraded to an advisory on April 30. The emergency operations center was staffed until May 9th.
July 2022Flash FloodChinle-A few people were evacuated from a home that flooded in eastern Chinle near Canyon de Chelly. The time was estimated from radar.
August 2022Flash FloodChinle-Several videos of major flooding north of Chinle were posted on social media.
July 2017Flash FloodChinle-Chinle Police received a report of water flowing across a road near Tselani and Cottonwood at 330 PM MST.
August 2015Flash FloodChinle-A thunderstorm produce heavy rain and a flash flood in de Chelly Wash. There was one fatality when a truck overturned in the flooded wash around 700 PM MDT.
August 2015Flash FloodChinle-The Nazlini Wash flooded low water crossings.
September 2015Flash FloodChinle-The Chinle Police Department reported that Indian Route 27 was impassable due to flash flooding south of Chinle.
July 2013Flash FloodChinle-Heavy rain over the Canyon De Chelly National Monument caused flash flooding in Pueblo Co Wash. The water was snapping trees along the banks of the wash.
September 2013Flash FloodChinle-Businesses were flooded at the junction of Highway 191 and Hospital Drive. Flooding was also reported on Highway 191 at mile post 446.8.
August 2007FloodChinle-Widespread flooding was reported in Chinle by Navajo County Sheriff's office. Flooding was also reported along Highway 59 near Rough Rock. Businesses and some homes along Highway 91 in Chinle were under up to two feet of water.
September 2002Flash FloodChinle-The Chinle Police Department reported flooding along the Chinle Wash from the confluence of the Canyon de Chelly Wash northward to Rock Point. People were evacuated as flood waters threatened homes along the Chinle Wash. One mobile home was washed off its foundations. Additional flooding was reported over the bridge on Nazlini Creek near Chinle.
August 1999Funnel CloudChinle-Chinle Police Department officers reported a funnel cloud west of Highway 191.
July 2002HailChinle-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Apache 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
Junction Overlook3.4 miles17
Del Muerto6.2 miles17
Flat Rock10.3 miles15
Coyote Springs11.3 miles14
Many Farms14.1 miles15
Nazlini18.6 miles19
White Clay18.7 miles18
Tahchee18.8 miles14

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 ChinleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1026032The 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 2861. 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.