Guatay, California
34 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Laguna-Pine Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 91931. It lies near Farley Flat. The Survey maps it on the Descanso quadrangle. It stands 3,999 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1903 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 94 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1903 against another survey:
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 34 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1903 USGS Cuyamaca quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1942 USGS Cuyamaca Peak quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1944 USGS Cuyamaca Peak quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Cuyamaca Peak quadrangle1:62500
- 1954 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Cuyamaca Peak quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Descanso quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1979 USGS El Cajon quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1997 USGS Descanso quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
312 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 312 fires within 5 miles of Guatay between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,378 acres in total. 24 started naturally. 12 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 112 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 64 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 57 |
| Natural | 24 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 12 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 12 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9 |
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Smoking | 7 |
| Other causes | 6 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 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 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Cleveland National Forest | EIGHT |
| 8 September 2015 | Natural | under an acre | Cleveland National Forest | GUATAY |
| 8 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 75 acres | San Diego Unit | OAKZANITA |
| 7 September 2000 | Natural | under an acre | San Diego Unit | AIRPLANE |
| 7 September 2000 | Natural | under an acre | San Diego Unit | GREEN |
| 7 September 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Cleveland National Forest | PARTY_#3 |
| 7 September 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Cleveland National Forest | PICK-UP |
| 6 September 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Cleveland National Forest | GRINDER |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 40 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 40 workings within 5 miles of Guatay: 12 occurrences, 9 producers, 9 past producers, 9 prospects. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Gold, Silver, Silver, Silica. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deer Park Deposit | Limestone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Gold Standard Group | Gold, Tungsten | Past Producer | ||
| Laguna Junction Deposits | Feldspar, Silica | Prospect | ||
| Vault of Ages Prospect | Gold, Silver, Tungsten | Prospect | ||
| Descanso Mine | Gold, Silver | Producer | ||
| Descanso Mine | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Laguna Mtns Placers | Tin | Past Producer | ||
| Rose Quartz Mine | Gold, Silver | Producer | ||
| Rose Quartz Mine | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed - 1 | Silica | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
7 since 2011Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Guatay in 7 storm reports between 2011 and 2025: 3 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2024 | Hail | Guatay | $10,000 | Trained spotter and meteorologist reported half inch sized hail from thunderstorm along I-8 in Pine Valley near 3500 feet MSL. |
| September 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Guatay | $8,000 | The Guatay mesonet station reported peak wind gusts of 38 and 44 mph between 1230 and 1250 PST due to a nearby thunderstorm. County representatives reported several trees down blocking roadways in nearby Pine Valley. San Diego Gas and Electric also reported a few power poles down, leading to outages. |
| August 2025 | Heavy Rain | Guatay | - | Mesonet station FW0527 Guatay Spider Mountain recorded 1.11 of rain with 0.93 falling in one hour. |
| February 2022 | Heavy Rain | Guatay | - | Heavy rain occurred across the region with 1 to 2.5 inches of rain in total for the storm event. Pine Valley recorded 2.57 inches of rain. |
| September 2016 | Flood | Guatay | - | A spotter reported minor urban flooding from a nearly stationary thunderstorm in Pine Valley. |
| July 2015 | Flash Flood | Guatay | - | A spotter reported 4 to 6 inches of water flowing across Old Highway 80 in Guatay. |
| July 2011 | Heavy Rain | Guatay | - | San Diego County Flood Control reported 0.80 inches of rain over 15 minutes and an additional 0.10 inches over the next 5 minutes, resulting in 0.90 inches of rain over 20 minutes. |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Valley | 2.4 miles | 34 | |
| Descanso Junction | 3.0 miles | 34 | |
| Descanso | 3.1 miles | 34 | |
| Los Terrenitos | 3.6 miles | 34 | |
| Hulburd Grove | 3.6 miles | 34 | |
| Stallion Oaks | 4.5 miles | 33 | |
| Mount Laguna | 7.5 miles | 21 | |
| The Willows | 8.8 miles | 33 |
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 Guatay | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5614211 | The 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 1656536. 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.












