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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

Willows within Glenn County

Then and now

1906 to 1987

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Willows, surveyed 1987
Topographic sheet of Willows, surveyed 1906

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

Population over time

2 figures

Willows 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.

YearPeople Change
20106,166
20206,293+127 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 16 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

38 since 1998

Regional 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/undetermined20
Equipment and vehicle use9
Debris and open burning5
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Smoking1
Natural1

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
25 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.0 acresTehama-Glenn UnitREACH 5 TGU_GLENN
23 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
18 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTehama-Glenn UnitREACH 5 TGU_GLENN
4 August 2020Debris and open burning1.0 acresTehama-Glenn UnitREACH 5 TGU_GLENN
19 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTehama-Glenn UnitS CULVER ST WILLOWS
17 August 2020Naturalunder an acreTehama-Glenn UnitREACH 7 TGU_GLENN
17 August 2003Debris and open burning1.5 acresSacramento National Wildlife RefugeROAD 60
15 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTehama-Glenn UnitFRENCH ST WILLOWS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Glenn County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 13 shown

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Colusa PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Glenn County Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Glenn County Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Lester G. MadsenSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Lester G. MadsenSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Pacheco PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
PitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Spooner PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
T. P. ThuemlerSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrenceSedimentary
T. P. ThuemlerSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Glenn County

Storms near this place

10 since 1993

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 1993Tornado (F1)Willows$500,000A tornado destroyed three barns and several outbuildings as it moved across rural land in the southeast part of the county.
May 2011Tornado (EF1)Willows$150,000The 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 2024FloodWillows-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 2023FloodWillows-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 2019FloodWillows-Highway 162 closed between 1st St. and County Rd. 9 in Willows because of storm related flooding.
February 2019FloodWillows-California Highway Patrol reported slight flooding over Willow Creek Bridge on SB Interstate 5 north of Willows.
February 2019FloodWillows-Caltrans District 3 reported that flooding has closed Highway 162 between 1st Street and County Rd P east of Willows in Glenn County.
February 2019FloodWillows-Caltrans reported a flooded roadway in northern Willows.
February 2015FloodWillows-CHP reported flooding at the intersection of Highway 99 west and Road 48.
December 2014FloodWillows-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.

Every storm recorded in Glenn 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
Lyman (historical)3.1 miles16
Bluegum4.1 miles16
Kurand (historical)5.1 miles18
Logandale6.0 miles14
Artois6.6 miles16
Norman8.0 miles14
Millsholm (historical)8.1 miles18
Bayliss8.8 miles15

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 WillowsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q774750The 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.