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Posts, California

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1948 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Big Sur census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93920. It stands on Mule Canyon Creek. The Survey maps it on the Pfeiffer Point quadrangle. It stands 945 feet above sea level.

Posts within Monterey County

Then and now

1948 to 1995

The same ground, surveyed 47 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Posts, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of Posts, surveyed 1948

Compare 1948 against another survey:

On record in Posts

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 within a mile 1 record

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 17 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

98 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 98 fires within 5 miles of Posts between 1992 and 2020, burning about 5,001 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 3 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/undetermined28
Equipment and vehicle use16
Recreation and ceremony16
Power generation/transmission/distribution15
Debris and open burning8
Other causes4
Natural4
Arson/incendiarism3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Firearms and explosives use1
Smoking1

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
8 September 1999Naturalunder an acreLos Padres National ForestTORRE
8 September 1999Naturalunder an acreLos Padres National ForestTOP
8 September 1999Naturalunder an acreLos Padres National ForestFREED
8 September 1996Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresLos Padres National ForestFLORY
6 September 2013Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresLos Padres National ForestLIBRARY
6 September 2006Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreLos Padres National ForestCOOPER
6 September 1997Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreLos Padres National ForestGRIMES
5 September 1997Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLos Padres National ForestBARLOW

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Monterey 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 Posts: 1 prospect, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver. 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
Molera RanchSand and Gravel, ConstructionProspectSedimentary
Reported LocationSilverProducer

Every working recorded in Monterey County

Storms near this place

14 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Posts in 14 storm reports between 2009 and 2026: 6 flash flood, 5 debris flow, 2 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
December 2012Debris FlowPosts$50,000A massive rock and mud slide near Partinigton Creek blocked US Highway 1 and a private road leading into a Partington Ridge neighborhood. 32 homes were isolated due to the rocks and mud blocking the roadway. Highway 1 was closed for 5 days due to the slide until one lane could be opened again. More than 40 stranded tourists slept in their cars Saturday night December 22nd as they had no way to get out of the area. Repairs took several weeks.
October 2009Flash FloodPosts$20,000A debris flow closed both lanes of Highway 1 at mile marker 37 around 4:15 p.m. PDT. Also, some flooding occurred along the Big Sur River.
February 2014Debris FlowPosts$5,000Active slide reported from the Pfieffer Burn Scar at Sycamore Canyon Road.
December 2012Flash FloodPosts$500The water level on the Big Sur River near Big Sur reached 10.42 feet. Flooding begins with levels above 10.0 feet with minor flash flooding in the Big Sur area.
December 2022Debris FlowPosts$10California Highway 1 was closed from Big Sur to Ragged Point due to rockslides across the highway in multiple places. As of April 2023, portions of the highway are still closed for repairs with no estimated time to reopen.
February 2026FloodPosts-Flooding was reported along the northbound side of Highway 1 just south of Pardington Lane with rocks in the roadway. Additional rockslides were reported on the highway between Lucia and the Monterey-SLO county line. The cumulative impact of all the rockslides forced the closure of Highway 1 from Pardington Lane to Ragged Point at 11 PM on February 10, reopening at 8:45 AM the next day.
December 2025Thunderstorm WindPosts-An Ambient Weather station on North Coast Ridge Road reported a gust of 58 mph.
November 2025FloodPosts-A slide was reported on California highway 1 at Nepenthe.
January 2017Flash FloodPosts-Heavy rain over the Soberanes Burn Scar resulted in flooding on the Big Sur River. The Big Sur River stream gauge near Big Sur rose above flood stage at 7:00 pm PST on January 10 and continued above flood stage until 6:30 am PST on January 11.
January 2017Debris FlowPosts-Slide just south of the Big Sur Inn.
February 2017Flash FloodPosts-Big Sur River near Big Sur gauge above flood stage.
February 2017Flash FloodPosts-Big Sur River at Big Sur gauge above flood stage.
February 2017Flash FloodPosts-Mesonet reported 1.37 in/hr from 5:30AM to 6:30AM PST.
February 2017Debris FlowPosts-Slide resulted in closed road SR1 at mm 44 jso Nepenthe.

Every storm recorded in Monterey 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
Big Sur3.7 miles25
Slates Hot Springs9.9 miles19
Tassajara Hot Springs11.4 miles23
Jamesburg13.4 miles28
Notleys Landing13.9 miles23
Mascorini Place15.5 miles28
Arroyo Center15.5 miles26
Robles Del Rio16.8 miles30

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 PostsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7234492The 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 1661256. 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.