Willows, California
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1987. It stands in the Willows census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95988. The Survey maps it on the Willows quadrangle. 6,293 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 138 feet above sea level.
Research this city
Then and now
1906 to 1987The same ground, surveyed 81 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Willows
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
US Post Office-Willows Mainlisted 1985- Willows-Glenn County Airportlisted 2023
Population over time
2 figuresWillows grew from 6,166 to 6,293 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6,166 | |
| 2020 | 6,293 | +127 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 16 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.
- 1906 USGS Willows quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1917 USGS Lyman quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1951 USGS Willows quadrangle1:62500
- 1951 USGS Willows quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Ukiah quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Ukiah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1987 USGS Willows quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
38 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 38 fires within 5 miles of Willows between 1998 and 2020, burning about 98 acres in total. 1 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/undetermined | 20 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | Tehama-Glenn Unit | REACH 5 TGU_GLENN |
| 23 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 18 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Tehama-Glenn Unit | REACH 5 TGU_GLENN |
| 4 August 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Tehama-Glenn Unit | REACH 5 TGU_GLENN |
| 19 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Tehama-Glenn Unit | S CULVER ST WILLOWS |
| 17 August 2020 | Natural | under an acre | Tehama-Glenn Unit | REACH 7 TGU_GLENN |
| 17 August 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1.5 acres | Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge | ROAD 60 |
| 15 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Tehama-Glenn Unit | FRENCH ST WILLOWS |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 13 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Willows: 7 producers, 3 past producers, 2 occurrences, 1 unknown. 7 still produce. 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colusa Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Glenn County Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Glenn County Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Lester G. Madsen | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Lester G. Madsen | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Pacheco Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Pits | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Spooner Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| T. P. Thuemler | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| T. P. Thuemler | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
10 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Willows in 10 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 8 flood, 2 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1993 | Tornado (F1) | Willows | $500,000 | A tornado destroyed three barns and several outbuildings as it moved across rural land in the southeast part of the county. |
| May 2011 | Tornado (EF1) | Willows | $150,000 | The second tornado of the outbreak developed northeast of downtown Willows in Glenn County at approximately 5:12 pm. It moved east-northeast and passed just south of the town of Durham in Butte County. It caused significant damage to almond groves in Butte County, as well as destroyed one out building, damaged an open barn, and caused roofing damage to two other structures. The rating of an EF1 was based upon the uprooting of thousands of almond trees with many instances of broken large branches and trunks and the physical lifting and carrying of several large trees by five to ten feet. The estimated highest wind speed (3 second gust) based upon damage with this tornado is 105 mph. There were no injuries nor fatalities. |
| December 2024 | Flood | Willows | - | California Highway Patrol reported flooding from heavy rain leading to the closure of County Road 99W from Road 39 to Road 48 north of Willows. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Willows | - | Highway 162 is closed between East Canal Road in Willows to Road O due to flooding. There's no estimated time to reopen the roadway. Additional road closures including CR 99W and CR 48 and SR 162 from Willows east to CR P. |
| January 2019 | Flood | Willows | - | Highway 162 closed between 1st St. and County Rd. 9 in Willows because of storm related flooding. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Willows | - | California Highway Patrol reported slight flooding over Willow Creek Bridge on SB Interstate 5 north of Willows. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Willows | - | Caltrans District 3 reported that flooding has closed Highway 162 between 1st Street and County Rd P east of Willows in Glenn County. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Willows | - | Caltrans reported a flooded roadway in northern Willows. |
| February 2015 | Flood | Willows | - | CHP reported flooding at the intersection of Highway 99 west and Road 48. |
| December 2014 | Flood | Willows | - | Heavy rain caused closures on Highway 99W between CR 33 and 48, and portions of County Roads 33, 35, 48, Rd D just north of Willows. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lyman (historical) | 3.1 miles | 16 | |
| Bluegum | 4.1 miles | 16 | |
| Kurand (historical) | 5.1 miles | 18 | |
| Logandale | 6.0 miles | 14 | |
| Artois | 6.6 miles | 16 | |
| Norman | 8.0 miles | 14 | |
| Millsholm (historical) | 8.1 miles | 18 | |
| Bayliss | 8.8 miles | 15 |
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 Willows | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q774750 | 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 1660184. 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.






