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Mescal, Arizona

21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Benson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 85602. The Survey maps it on the Mescal quadrangle. 1,751 people lived here at the 2020 count.

Mescal within Cochise County

Population over time

2 figures

Mescal fell from 1,812 to 1,751 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
20101,812
20201,751-61 (-3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 21 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

205 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 205 fires within 5 miles of Mescal between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,054 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 9 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined133
Smoking22
Equipment and vehicle use21
Arson/incendiarism9
Debris and open burning8
Natural8
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Recreation and ceremony1
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
9 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMescal-J6 Fire Districtnot named
8 September 2001Smokingunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeTRES ALAMOS
7 September 1992Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Officenot named
6 September 1996Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Officenot named
29 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeCORNFIELD
23 September 1992Smokingunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Officenot named
22 September 2001Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeSKYLINE
20 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - Southeast DistrictEMPIRITA CUMARO

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cochise County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Mescal: 2 producers, 2 occurrences. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Geothermal, Fluorine-Fluorite, Copper. 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
CoronadoFluorine-FluoriteOccurrence
UnknownCopperOccurrence
UnknownGeothermalProducer
UnknownGeothermalProducer

Every working recorded in Cochise County

Storms near this place

6 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mescal in 6 storm reports between 2009 and 2021: 3 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud, 1 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
August 2009Thunderstorm WindMescal$30,000Severe thunderstorm microburst winds caused significant damage to mobile homes at Mescal. At least two mobile homes suffered roof damage or roof collapse. Several awnings on the mobile homes were destroyed. Thunderstorm winds were estimated to be near 70 mph.
August 2021Flash FloodMescal$5,000An inch of rain in 30 minutes caused flash flooding of Mescal Rd. Two occupants of a vehicle that drove into floodwaters were rescued 8 miles north of Mescal.
September 2013Funnel CloudMescal-A funnel cloud was observed and photographed by a member of the media northeast of Mescal.
July 2021HailMescal-no account filed
July 2017HailMescal-no account filed
July 2011HailMescal-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cochise 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
Chamiso4.3 miles21
Benson7.6 miles21
Pomerene7.9 miles21
Fenner10.9 miles21
Curtiss13.1 miles21
Saint David13.1 miles21
Escalante Crossing14.9 miles21
Tully16.5 miles21

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 MescalAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6011334The 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 31744. 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.