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Palmer Lake, Colorado

29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1894 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Monument census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80133. It stands on North Monument Creek. The Survey maps it on the Palmer Lake quadrangle. 2,636 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,297 feet above sea level.

Palmer Lake within El Paso County

On record in Palmer Lake

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

Palmer Lake grew from 2,420 to 2,636 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
20102,420
20202,636+216 (+9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 29 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

200 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 200 fires within 5 miles of Palmer Lake between 1992 and 2020, burning about 326 acres in total. 25 started naturally. 12 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/undetermined111
Recreation and ceremony31
Natural25
Arson/incendiarism12
Equipment and vehicle use9
Smoking4
Debris and open burning4
Fireworks2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
8 September 2007Naturalunder an acrePike and San Isabel National ForestMT HERMAN RD
8 September 2006Naturalunder an acrePike and San Isabel National ForestMONUMENT ROCK
6 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePike and San Isabel National ForestMT HERMAN
5 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
29 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTri Lakes Monument Fire Rescue AuthorityUNKNOWN
23 September 2018Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresLarkspur Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
22 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acrePike and San Isabel National Forest320 A
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 El Paso County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Palmer Lake: 3 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Clay, Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Higginson PitGranitePast Producer
Sand and GravelStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Moore PropertyClayPast Producer
UnknownClayPast Producer

Every working recorded in El Paso County

Storms near this place

16 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Palmer Lake in 16 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 10 hail, 3 heavy rain, 2 flash flood, 1 funnel cloud. 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
May 2025HailPalmer Lake-Hail up to 1.25 inches in diameter fell across the Palmer Divide from a supercell thunderstorm.
May 2025HailPalmer Lake-Hail up to 1 inch in diameter fell across the Palmer Divide from a supercell thunderstorm.
July 2025Flash FloodPalmer Lake-Flooded roadways, small streams overflowing banks, road closures, vehicles stranded.
August 2024Heavy RainPalmer Lake-A trained spotter reported 0.53 inches of rain, which fell in a short period of time and was produced by a strong thunderstorm.
May 2023HailPalmer Lake-COOP observer reported 1 inch hail.
May 2023Heavy RainPalmer Lake-There was 3.01 inches of rain that fell.
May 2023Heavy RainPalmer Lake-There was 6.39 inches of rain that fell.
May 2014HailPalmer Lake-Hail accumulated to a depth of 2 inches.
August 2013Flash FloodPalmer Lake-no account filed
July 2010HailPalmer Lake-no account filed
July 2010HailPalmer Lake-no account filed
June 2003HailPalmer Lake-no account filed
July 1999HailPalmer Lake-no account filed
June 1999Funnel CloudPalmer Lake-no account filed
August 1999HailPalmer Lake-no account filed
June 1997HailPalmer Lake-no account filed

Every storm recorded in El Paso 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
Glen Park0.6 miles29
Pine Crest0.8 miles29
Monument3.2 miles28
Woodmoor4.0 miles28
Gleneagle7.2 miles28
La Foret13.3 miles29
Black Forest13.7 miles29
Chipita Park14.4 miles25

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 Palmer LakeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2075229The 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 204794. 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.