BlockBefore

Alamosa, Colorado

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Alamosa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81101. The Survey maps it on the Alamosa East quadrangle. 9,806 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,543 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Alamosa within Alamosa County

On record in Alamosa

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 10 records

Population over time

2 figures

Alamosa grew from 8,780 to 9,806 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
20108,780
20209,806+1,026 (+12%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 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

147 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 147 fires within 5 miles of Alamosa between 1992 and 2020, burning about 222 acres in total. None started naturally. 7 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/undetermined84
Recreation and ceremony46
Arson/incendiarism7
Smoking3
Equipment and vehicle use3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Debris and open burning2

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
30 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersALAMOSA
30 September 1992Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreDenver Countynot named
29 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
29 September 1993Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCSFS-Alamosa Districtnot named
28 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreDenver Countynot named
20 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersALAMOSA
20 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
20 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Alamosa County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 15 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Alamosa: 12 past producers, 2 occurrences, 1 producer. 1 still produces. 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
Alamosa Pit #2Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Alamosa County

Storms near this place

22 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alamosa in 22 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 7 tornado, 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 3 lightning. The reports record 1 injury. 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 1996LightningAlamosa1 hurtno account filed
August 1993HailAlamosa$500,000Marble-size hail caused an estimated $75,000 damage to nine aircraft at the Alamosa Airport. In addition, the hail damaged vehicles in the airport parking lot, as well as destroying barley fields southwest of Alamosa.
September 1997LightningAlamosa$40,000Lightning struck a mobile home, setting it on fire. It was totally destroyed.
March 1995Tornado (F1)Alamosa$11,000A tornado briefly touched down on a farm two miles south of Alamosa in Alamosa County. A large tractor shed had been detached from its concrete foundation. Windshilds of vehicles and fences had been damaged as well. The land owners who witnessed the tornado estimated it to be about 20 feet wide and on the ground for about a 0.1 miles.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindAlamosa-Convective wind gust of 66 mph was measured at KALS observation station.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindAlamosa-Alamosa airport.
September 2022Thunderstorm WindAlamosa-Alamosa airport.
June 2006Tornado (F0)Alamosa-Tornado caused no known damage over open country. This tornado moved from Alamosa County to Costilla County.
July 2006Tornado (F0)Alamosa-A weak, short-lived tornado caused no known damage.
July 2004Tornado (F0)Alamosa-A brief lived tornado caused no known damage.
August 2003Tornado (F0)Alamosa-A NWS employee observed two non-mesocyclone tornados (landspouts) under a towering cumulus cloud...which caused no known damage.
June 1995Tornado (F0)Alamosa-A very brief tornado touched down on open land.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindAlamosa-no account filed
August 2018Thunderstorm WindAlamosa-no account filed
July 2006Thunderstorm WindAlamosa-no account filed
August 2003LightningAlamosa-no account filed
April 2000WildfireAlamosa-no account filed
June 2000HailAlamosa-no account filed
May 1998Tornado (F0)Alamosa-no account filed
July 1998HailAlamosa-no account filed
July 1995HailAlamosa-no account filed
July 1995HailAlamosa-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Alamosa 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
La Fruto4.1 miles11
Henry5.3 miles11
Hartner5.7 miles11
Estrella7.7 miles11
Waverly7.7 miles17
Parma10.1 miles16
Mosca12.3 miles10
Hooper18.9 miles9

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 AlamosaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1010247The 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 203624. 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.