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Orchard Mesa, Colorado

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Grand Junction census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81503. It stands on Indian Wash. The Survey maps it on the Grand Junction quadrangle. 6,688 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,649 feet above sea level.

Orchard Mesa within Mesa County

Population over time

2 figures

Orchard Mesa fell from 6,836 to 6,688 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
20106,836
20206,688-148 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 14 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

935 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 935 fires within 5 miles of Orchard Mesa between 1992 and 2020, burning about 13,755 acres in total. 23 started naturally. 4 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/undetermined801
Smoking35
Natural23
Equipment and vehicle use22
Fireworks18
Debris and open burning15
Recreation and ceremony12
Arson/incendiarism4
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Other causes1

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 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGrand Junction Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
9 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGrand Junction Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
9 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersGRAND JUNCTION
8 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGrand Junction Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
7 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersN/A
7 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGrand Junction Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
7 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGrand Junction Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
6 September 2019Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersN/A

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Mesa County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 58 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 58 workings within 5 miles of Orchard Mesa: 36 unknowns, 12 occurrences, 7 producers, 2 past producers. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Uranium, Gypsum-Anhydrite. 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
Colo Copper PropertiesCopperProducer
Lucius Pitkin IncUranium, VanadiumPast Producer
UnknownBarium-BariteOccurrenceHydrothermal Vein
UnknownStone, DimensionOccurrenceMetamorphic
UnnamedStoneUnknown
Fireside EnterprisesLimestone, DimensionOccurrence
Himes DrillingLimestone, DimensionUnknown
UnknownFire Clay (Refractory)Occurrence
UnknownGypsum-AnhydriteOccurrenceSedimentary
UnknownFire Clay (Refractory)Occurrence

Every working recorded in Mesa County

Storms near this place

12 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Orchard Mesa in 12 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 heavy rain, 2 flash flood, 1 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
September 2025Flash FloodOrchard Mesa$20,000Thunderstorms developed over the Redlands area of Grand Junction late in the afternoon of September 4th, and remained there for 2-3 hours. Impacts began to be noticed around 6:45 PM MDT, with an LSR in the area of 1 ESE Redlands indicating Water out of the banks of nearby wash and running over Redlands Parkway in several areas. Approximately half an hour later, another LSR indicated that water running over the roadway in many areas along South Camp Road in the Redlands (Redlands 1SSE). Debris was also reported as having to be removed from Monument Road (Redlands 3SSE). In addition to the LSR'd events, properties were flooded, normally dry washes were overfilled, and water and debris inundated several roadways in the area. Additionally, social media reports indicated flooding along No Thoroughfare Canyon, Monument Road, and in the Devil's Kitchen area of Colorado National Monument. Once the rain stopped and the storms dissipated, a local spotter provided the total precipitation from this storm, which was a 2.33 inches.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindOrchard Mesa$3,000no account filed
September 2021Thunderstorm WindOrchard Mesa-A large tree estimated to be 8 to 10 inches in diameter fell in the Grand Junction city cemetery as a result of thunderstorm winds.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindOrchard Mesa-A National Weather Service employee reported a downed power line across the road in Orchard Mesa, caused by wind gusts estimated to be around 64 mph. Additionally, a trained spotter nearby had a moderate to large tree uprooted and blown down.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindOrchard Mesa-Wind gusts estimated to be in the 50 to 60 mph range uprooted a medium to large size tree in Orchard Mesa. The tree fell on a nearby camper.
July 2016Heavy RainOrchard Mesa-Showers and thunderstorms produced brief heavy rainfall across portions of Mesa County, including 0.40 inches of rain within 50 minutes measured near Orchard Mesa.
July 2012Flash FloodOrchard Mesa-Thunderstorms with heavy rainfall produced flooding in Unaweep Canyon closing Highway 141 between mile markers 140 and 141 due to water over the roadway.
June 2006Funnel CloudOrchard Mesa-no account filed
May 2005Tornado (F0)Orchard Mesa-no account filed
July 2005HailOrchard Mesa-no account filed
July 2001FloodOrchard Mesa-no account filed
August 1999Heavy RainOrchard Mesa-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Mesa 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
Grand Junction1.4 miles14
Rosevale1.9 miles14
Durham4.0 miles14
Fruitvale4.0 miles12
Johnsons Corner4.5 miles12
Pear Park4.7 miles12
Highland Park5.0 miles12
Redlands5.1 miles17

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 Orchard MesaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2416594The 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 174585. 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.