BlockBefore

Amherst, Colorado

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Holyoke census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80721. The Survey maps it on the Amherst quadrangle. 47 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,691 feet above sea level.

Amherst within Phillips County

On record in Amherst

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 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Amherst fell from 58 to 47 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
201058
202047-11 (-19%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 8 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

10 since 2011

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Amherst between 2011 and 2016, burning about 8 acres in total. None 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/undetermined10

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
29 August 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersAMHERST
5 July 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreHolyoke Volunteer Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
5 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersAMHERST
26 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersAMHERST
17 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersAMHERST
24 June 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersAMHERST
23 June 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersAMHERST
13 June 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreHolyoke Volunteer Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN

Every fire recorded in Phillips County

Storms near this place

60 of 61 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Amherst in 61 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 42 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 3 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
June 2007Flash FloodAmherst$100,000no account filed
June 2010Flash FloodAmherst$25,000Heavy rain washed out sections of 20 country roads in Phillips County.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindAmherst-The report was from a Weatherlink weather station.
July 2024HailAmherst-The report was from mping.
June 2022Tornado (EFU)Amherst-A landspout touched down in an open field; no damage was observed.
July 2020Tornado (EF0)Amherst-A tornado touched down briefly near the intersection of CO 16 and CO 55. No damage was observed.
September 2019HailAmherst-Hail broke a windshield.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindAmherst-Intense straight-line winds flipped a mobile home and damaged an adjacent home.
July 2018HailAmherst-Large hail the size of baseballs broke windshields and damaged trees.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindAmherst-Damaging thunderstorm winds snapped 6 telephone poles off at the base. The poles were approximately 12 to 14 inches in diameter. In addition, the storm produced a measured 2.5 inches of rainfall.
June 2010HailAmherst-The severe thunderstorm also produced a wind gusts to 60 mph. Heavy rain was also observed, estimated between 3 and 4 inches.
May 2008Thunderstorm WindAmherst-A severe thunderstorm overturned an irrigation sprinkler. In addition, a 3-ton grain feeder was moved from the pasture to a barn.
March 2007Tornado (EF0)Amherst-A small tornado touched down but did no damage.
July 1998Flash FloodAmherst-Flash flooding forced the closure of U.S. Highway 385 south of Julesburg and State Highway 176 from Amherst northeast to the Nebraska border as over 3.5 inches of rain/3.61/ reportedly fell in the area.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindAmherst-no account filed
May 2023HailAmherst-no account filed
May 2023HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2022HailAmherst-no account filed
September 2019HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2018Thunderstorm WindAmherst-no account filed
July 2018HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2017HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2016HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2015HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2015HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2015HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2015HailAmherst-no account filed
April 2015HailAmherst-no account filed
April 2015Thunderstorm WindAmherst-no account filed
May 2013HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2011HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2011HailAmherst-no account filed
August 2011HailAmherst-no account filed
August 2011HailAmherst-no account filed
August 2011HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2010Thunderstorm WindAmherst-no account filed
July 2009HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2009Thunderstorm WindAmherst-no account filed
July 2009HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2009HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2009HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2009HailAmherst-no account filed
April 2008HailAmherst-no account filed
April 2008HailAmherst-no account filed
March 2007HailAmherst-no account filed
March 2007HailAmherst-no account filed
May 2007HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2007HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2004HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindAmherst-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindAmherst-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindAmherst-no account filed
June 2004HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2003Thunderstorm WindAmherst-no account filed
June 2001HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2001HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2001HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2001HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2001HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2001HailAmherst-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Phillips 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
Holyoke9.9 miles6
Paoli17.0 miles7
Haxtun24.6 miles7

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 AmherstAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4746004The 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 182776. 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.

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.