BlockBefore

Winterhaven, California

28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Winterhaven-Bard census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92283. The Survey maps it on the Yuma West quadrangle. 390 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 131 feet above sea level.

Winterhaven within Imperial County

Then and now

1903 to 1997

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Winterhaven, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Winterhaven, surveyed 1903

Compare 1903 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Winterhaven fell from 394 to 390 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
2010394
2020390-4 (-1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 surveys from 28 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

720 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 720 fires within 5 miles of Winterhaven between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,614 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 69 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/undetermined391
Debris and open burning90
Arson/incendiarism69
Misuse of fire by a minor53
Recreation and ceremony52
Equipment and vehicle use20
Fireworks17
Natural8
Smoking6
Other causes6
Railroad operations and maintenance6
Power generation/transmission/distribution2

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 1998Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFort Yuma AgencyBRIDGE2
9 September 1996Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFort Yuma AgencyFIRESTONE
8 September 2001Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFort Yuma AgencyANDRADE
8 September 1998Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFort Yuma Agency3RD AVE
7 September 2001Debris and open burning1.0 acresFort Yuma AgencyCEMETARY
7 September 1998Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFort Yuma AgencyW/BRIDGE2
6 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreYuma Fire DepartmentNOT NAMED
6 September 2018Arson/incendiarismunder an acreYuma Fire Department1810678

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Imperial County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 26 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 26 workings within 5 miles of Winterhaven: 18 unknowns, 4 occurrences, 3 producers, 1 past producer. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Geothermal, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, 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
Jude MineGold, Silver, IronPast ProducerVein
Jude Mine GroupGold, Iron, SilverOccurrence
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Unnamed LocationSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Valley Sand and Gravel DepSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Valley Sand and Gravel DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerSedimentary
Yuma County Plant & Pit #1Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Yuma Plant & Pit #11Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
UnknownGeothermalUnknown
UnknownGeothermalUnknown

Every working recorded in Imperial County

Storms near this place

6 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Winterhaven in 6 storm reports between 2001 and 2025: 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 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 2022Thunderstorm WindWinterhaven$70,000Imperial Irrigation District reported 68 power poles downed that left 351 people without power between the Winterhaven and Bard area. Timing estimated from radar. Winds were estimated between 65-70 mph. No injuries were reported.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindWinterhaven$50,000A thunderstorm microburst that moved through Winterhaven resulted in 49 downed power poles in the Quechan Tribe area. No injuries were reported.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindWinterhaven$1,000Downed tree on Railroad Ave blocking both lanes in Winterhaven. Wind gusts were estimated between 55-60 mph. Timing estimated from radar. No injuries reported.
September 2025Flash FloodWinterhaven-California Highway Patrol reported 2 feet of water near the area of Ross and Picacho Roads. Timing estimated from radar. No damages or injuries reported.
January 2010Heavy RainWinterhaven-Heavy rains in the afternoon resulted in considerable standing water in local schools.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindWinterhaven-A large thunderstorm complex which had developed a gust front up to 60 miles long in south central Arizona moved to the southwest into Yuma County Arizona and eastern Imperial County, California. As the gust front moved west across the Colorado River into Winterhaven, about 30 large trees were uprooted.

Every storm recorded in Imperial 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
Ross Corner3.7 miles28
Araz Junction4.3 miles28
Bard5.4 miles28
Felicity7.0 miles24
Dunes9.1 miles24
Obregon11.6 miles24
Ogilby12.1 miles24
Cactus16.3 miles27

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 WinterhavenAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3458263The 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 1661702. 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.