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South Bay, Florida

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 1987. It stands in the Belle Glade-Pahokee census division. It lies in ZIP code area 33493. The Survey maps it on the Belle Glade quadrangle. 4,860 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 20 feet above sea level.

South Bay within Palm Beach County

Then and now

1956 to 1987

The same ground, surveyed 31 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of South Bay, surveyed 1987
Topographic sheet of South Bay, surveyed 1956

Population over time

2 figures

South Bay fell from 4,876 to 4,860 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
20104,876
20204,860-16 (-0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 12 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

86 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 86 fires within 5 miles of South Bay between 1992 and 2020, burning about 194 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 8 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
Railroad operations and maintenance40
Misuse of fire by a minor12
Arson/incendiarism8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Debris and open burning6
Smoking5
Natural4
Equipment and vehicle use3
Recreation and ceremony1

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
30 July 1998Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
18 July 1996Smokingunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
1 July 2019Arson/incendiarismunder an acreFlorida Forest ServicePAWN LAKE FIRE
4 June 2004Debris and open burningunder an acreFlorida Forest ServiceTHE 4 O'CLOCK FIRE
4 June 1999Naturalunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
15 June 1997Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
10 June 2000Misuse of fire by a minor5.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
1 June 2019Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreFlorida Forest ServiceSLIDE ( 50 )

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Palm Beach County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of South Bay: 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: 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
Rabbit Island Rock DivisionStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Rock Pit #2Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
South Bay Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Palm Beach County

Storms near this place

8 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names South Bay in 8 storm reports between 1996 and 2020: 4 funnel cloud, 2 tornado, 1 waterspout, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 2009Thunderstorm WindSouth Bay$2,000Winds of at least 60 mph and penny sized hail were estimated by a Palm Beach County Deputy. Numerous small trees and tree limbs were downed across the city of South Bay. Strong winds also blew gravel into a sheriffs office vehicle resulting in a side window being blown out.
July 2020Funnel CloudSouth Bay-A video sent via social media showed a funnel cloud produced by a thunderstorm in South Bay, FL.
July 2017Funnel CloudSouth Bay-A pilot reported a funnel cloud 40 miles west of West Palm Beach International Airport.
June 2006Tornado (F0)South Bay-Tornado spotted by law enforcement in a field near the 800 block of U.S. Highway 27 near South Bay. No damage was reported.
May 2005Funnel CloudSouth Bay-A funnel cloud was sighted over Lake Okeechobee.
April 2003Tornado (F1)South Bay-Police watched a tornado touch down in the sugar cane fields and travel south at 10 mph. No crop damage or injuries were reported.
August 1996Funnel CloudSouth Bay-no account filed
July 1996WaterspoutSouth Bay-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Palm Beach 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
Dahlberg1.0 miles12
Belle Glade Camp1.8 miles12
Bean City2.7 miles11
Belle Glade2.9 miles12
Okeelanta3.7 miles11
Runyon5.4 miles12
Lake Harbor5.6 miles11
Watson6.3 miles11

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 South BayAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2151709The 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 291340. 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.