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Walsh, Colorado

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Walsh census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81090. The Survey maps it on the Walsh quadrangle. 543 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,953 feet above sea level.

Walsh within Baca County

Population over time

2 figures

Walsh fell from 546 to 543 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
2010546
2020543-3 (-1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 13 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

61 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 61 fires within 5 miles of Walsh between 1993 and 2019, burning about 52,076 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 1 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/undetermined36
Recreation and ceremony10
Debris and open burning6
Natural4
Equipment and vehicle use2
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Arson/incendiarism1

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
22 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
5 August 1994Arson/incendiarismunder an acreBaca County Officenot named
31 August 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
31 August 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
27 August 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined820 acresColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
12 August 2010Natural5.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
11 August 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
4 July 1994Misuse of fire by a minor2.0 acresBaca County Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Baca County

Storms near this place

60 of 76 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Walsh in 76 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 46 hail, 16 thunderstorm wind, 8 tornado, 3 heavy rain. The reports record 2 injuries. 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 2017Thunderstorm WindWalsh2 hurt, $2,000,000Trees and tree limbs down, causing damage to power lines, structures and vehicles. Two people sustained very minor injuries.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWalsh$30,000Three quarters of a mile of power poles were snapped off.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWalsh$25,000One half mile of pivot irrigation was damaged and destroyed, and a roof was partially lifted off a barn.
June 1999Tornado (F1)Walsh$25,000A supercell which moved southeast through Baca county produced the following three tornados. A tornado began just northwest of the intersection of county road R and country road 42. It moved southeast and struck a ranch complex, destroying a concrete block garage and damaging a vehicle inside. Roof damage was done to the nearby house. The tornado continued to move southeast, then almost due south between ranch houses before lifting 7 miles after initial touchdown.
May 2010Tornado (EF0)Walsh$10,000A tornado moved northwest and damaged a mobile home and some outbuildings, then moved over open fields.
May 2010Tornado (EF1)Walsh$5,000A large tornado moved north northwest and damaged fencing and uprooted cottonwood trees along Bear Creek northwest of Bartlett.
June 2017Tornado (EF0)Walsh$2,000A tornado, at one time multiple-vortex, did some damage to fencing as it moved mainly across open fields around 3 miles west of Walsh and crossed US Highway 160.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindWalsh-Metal roof blown off a building on County Road 43. Time of damage is estimated.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindWalsh-Tree down 400 block of Maplewood in Walsh. Power also out in Walsh. Time of damage is estimated.
May 2025HailWalsh-Hail up to 1.25 inches in diameter fell across eastern Baca County from a cluster of severe thunderstorms.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindWalsh-Shingles and siding blown off house. Crop damage to corn.
August 2022Heavy RainWalsh-Over 2.5 inches fell during the afternoon.
August 2021Heavy RainWalsh-Heavy rainfall of 2.55 inches.
May 2019HailWalsh-Nickel size hail reported by Baca County EM. Also had minor street flooding.
July 2019Heavy RainWalsh-Trained spotter reported 1.21 inches of rain fell within 40 minutes.
August 2014Flash FloodWalsh-Bear Creek flooded low water crossings at County Roads 43 and 45.
October 2013Thunderstorm WindWalsh-Minor damage occurred to trees, tree limbs, and weaker structures.
July 2006Flash FloodWalsh-Heavy rains from thunderstorms brought flooding to Baca County. A draw flowing into Sand Arroyo Creek, 3 miles south of Walsh, was filled with fast flowing water and debris 150 yards wide and four feet deep.
August 2004Tornado (F0)Walsh-A short lived tornado caused no known damage.
July 2000Tornado (F0)Walsh-A small tornado may have had a nearly continuous track north-northeastward over open country of eastern Baca county. There was no known damage.
June 1999Tornado (F0)Walsh-As the supercell moved farther southeast, a tornado began about one mile northeast of a residence and moved over open country and across the Cimarron River in far southeast Baca county. It dissipated over open country near the Colorado - Kansas - Oklahoma borders. The tornado caused no known damage.
June 1999Tornado (F0)Walsh-A tornado, possibly a landspout, roughly parallelled the path of the initial tornado with this supercell. Path width and length, as well as timing are estimates. There was no known damage.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindWalsh-no account filed
June 2022HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2022HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2022HailWalsh-no account filed
May 2017HailWalsh-no account filed
May 2017HailWalsh-no account filed
May 2017HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2017HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2017HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2017HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2017HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2017HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2017HailWalsh-no account filed
July 2016Thunderstorm WindWalsh-no account filed
July 2016HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2015HailWalsh-no account filed
April 2015HailWalsh-no account filed
May 2015HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2013HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2013HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2013HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2012HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2011HailWalsh-no account filed
May 2010HailWalsh-no account filed
May 2010HailWalsh-no account filed
May 2010HailWalsh-no account filed
May 2010HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2009HailWalsh-no account filed
July 2009HailWalsh-no account filed
September 2009HailWalsh-no account filed
July 2008HailWalsh-no account filed
July 2008HailWalsh-no account filed
August 2008HailWalsh-no account filed
May 2007HailWalsh-no account filed
May 2005HailWalsh-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindWalsh-no account filed
May 2002Thunderstorm WindWalsh-no account filed
August 2002HailWalsh-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Baca 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
Bartlett7.8 miles13
Stonington8.0 miles13
Vilas8.9 miles14
Two Buttes13.6 miles14
Buckeye Crossroads14.2 miles14
Lycan16.3 miles14
Midway17.1 miles13
Springfield17.9 miles13

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 WalshAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2230064The 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 196177. 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.