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.
Population over time
2 figuresWalsh 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 546 | |
| 2020 | 543 | -3 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 13 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1892 USGS Vilas quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS La Junta quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS La Junta quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1968 USGS La Junta quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS Walsh quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Springfield quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
61 since 1993Regional 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/undetermined | 36 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 10 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 5 August 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Baca County Office | not named |
| 31 August 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 31 August 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 27 August 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 12 August 2010 | Natural | 5.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 11 August 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 4 July 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2.0 acres | Baca County Office | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
60 of 76 shownRegional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walsh | 2 hurt, $2,000,000 | Trees and tree limbs down, causing damage to power lines, structures and vehicles. Two people sustained very minor injuries. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walsh | $30,000 | Three quarters of a mile of power poles were snapped off. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walsh | $25,000 | One half mile of pivot irrigation was damaged and destroyed, and a roof was partially lifted off a barn. |
| June 1999 | Tornado (F1) | Walsh | $25,000 | A 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 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Walsh | $10,000 | A tornado moved northwest and damaged a mobile home and some outbuildings, then moved over open fields. |
| May 2010 | Tornado (EF1) | Walsh | $5,000 | A large tornado moved north northwest and damaged fencing and uprooted cottonwood trees along Bear Creek northwest of Bartlett. |
| June 2017 | Tornado (EF0) | Walsh | $2,000 | A 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 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walsh | - | Metal roof blown off a building on County Road 43. Time of damage is estimated. |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walsh | - | Tree down 400 block of Maplewood in Walsh. Power also out in Walsh. Time of damage is estimated. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Walsh | - | Hail up to 1.25 inches in diameter fell across eastern Baca County from a cluster of severe thunderstorms. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walsh | - | Shingles and siding blown off house. Crop damage to corn. |
| August 2022 | Heavy Rain | Walsh | - | Over 2.5 inches fell during the afternoon. |
| August 2021 | Heavy Rain | Walsh | - | Heavy rainfall of 2.55 inches. |
| May 2019 | Hail | Walsh | - | Nickel size hail reported by Baca County EM. Also had minor street flooding. |
| July 2019 | Heavy Rain | Walsh | - | Trained spotter reported 1.21 inches of rain fell within 40 minutes. |
| August 2014 | Flash Flood | Walsh | - | Bear Creek flooded low water crossings at County Roads 43 and 45. |
| October 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walsh | - | Minor damage occurred to trees, tree limbs, and weaker structures. |
| July 2006 | Flash Flood | Walsh | - | 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 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Walsh | - | A short lived tornado caused no known damage. |
| July 2000 | Tornado (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 1999 | Tornado (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 1999 | Tornado (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 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| April 2015 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| May 2015 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2012 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| September 2009 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Walsh | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Walsh | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bartlett | 7.8 miles | 13 | |
| Stonington | 8.0 miles | 13 | |
| Vilas | 8.9 miles | 14 | |
| Two Buttes | 13.6 miles | 14 | |
| Buckeye Crossroads | 14.2 miles | 14 | |
| Lycan | 16.3 miles | 14 | |
| Midway | 17.1 miles | 13 | |
| Springfield | 17.9 miles | 13 |
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 Walsh | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2230064 | The 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.





