BlockBefore

Alto, Georgia

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Baldwin census division. It lies in ZIP code area 30510. The Survey maps it on the Baldwin quadrangle. 970 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,399 feet above sea level.

Alto within Banks County

Population over time

2 figures

Alto fell from 1,172 to 970 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
20101,172
2020970-202 (-17%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 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

221 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 221 fires within 5 miles of Alto between 1992 and 2020, burning about 407 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 37 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
Debris and open burning134
Arson/incendiarism37
Missing data/not specified/undetermined14
Equipment and vehicle use13
Natural5
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Smoking5
Railroad operations and maintenance4
Recreation and ceremony4

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 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2017-BANKS-001
7 September 1996Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 1999Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
3 September 1993Debris and open burning2.2 acresGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
27 September 2013Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreChattahoochee-Oconee National ForestJUNKYARD
26 September 1999Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
15 September 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2011-BANKS-001
14 September 2010Debris and open burning1.7 acresGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2011-HALL-005

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Banks 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 Alto: 2 prospects, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Gold. 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
Crow (L.W. Bowen) MineGoldProspectPlacer, Some Vein Prospecting Also
Crow Heirs MineGoldPast ProducerStream Placer
J. Loudermilk (J. Perkins)GoldProspectPlacer, Some Vein Prospecting Also

Every working recorded in Banks County

Storms near this place

10 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alto in 10 storm reports between 1997 and 2021: 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 flash 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
May 2014HailAlto$238,000The public reported golf ball sized hail along Yona Homer Road.
October 2020Flash FloodAlto$30,000The Emergency Manager reported flooding issues in the county including: Purvis Road washed out, Apple Valley Road home flooded, a bridge closed on Westmoreland, and the closure of Moss Farm Road. Radar estimates indicate that 3 to 6 inches of rain occurred in the area, resulting in the flash flooding.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindAlto$10,000Multiple reports of trees down around the county, specifically along Apple Pie Ridge Road, historic Homer Highway, Carson Segars Road, and McDonald Circle. Time estimated from radar.
May 2021Thunderstorm WindAlto$5,000The Banks County Emergency Manager reported part of the roof of a mobile home blown off and several trees blown down off of Garland White Road.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindAlto$5,000Several trees and power lines were knocked down in and around Alto and Lula, as well as countywide.
May 2002Thunderstorm WindAlto$500The Banks county 911 center reported that two to three trees were blown down in Alto. Pea size hail was also reported.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindAlto$250The Banks County Emergency Manager reported a tree down on Apple Pie Ridge Road.
April 2012HailAlto-The Lee Arrendale Correctional Center reported quarter sized hail in the area. Additional reports of quarter sized hail were received from the public south of Baldwin.
April 2012Thunderstorm WindAlto-The public reported a measured 60 MPH wind gust two miles south of Baldwin.
February 1998HailAlto-The public reported dime size hail covering the ground.

Every storm recorded in Banks 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
Woffords Settlement (historical)3.9 miles14
Hollingsworth4.0 miles14
Nancytown (historical)4.7 miles14
Pruitt7.7 miles14
Pinefield Crossroads7.7 miles14
Uvena8.5 miles14
Mount Pleasant9.8 miles14
Homer10.0 miles14

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 AltoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1843926The 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 354298. 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.