Gay, Georgia
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Gay census division. It lies in ZIP code area 30218. The Survey maps it on the Gay quadrangle. 110 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 840 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresGay grew from 89 to 110 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 | 89 | |
| 2020 | 110 | +21 (+24%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 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.
- 1953 USGS Atlanta quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Atlanta quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Atlanta quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Gay quadrangle1:24000
- 1979 USGS Griffin quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
169 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 169 fires within 5 miles of Gay between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,087 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 14 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 burning | 111 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 14 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 10 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Natural | 6 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2020MERIWETHER003 |
| 21 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2013-MERIWETHER-006 |
| 20 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2020MERIWETHER005 |
| 1 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 August 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 August 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2001-MERIWETHER-011 |
| 4 August 2012 | Debris and open burning | 2.1 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2013-MERIWETHER-005 |
| 31 August 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.3 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Gay: 1 occurrence, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Granite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flat Rock Porphyritic Granite Pros | Granite | Prospect | ||
| Flat Shoals Prospect | Granite | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
8 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gay in 8 storm reports between 1999 and 2022: 6 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gay | $75,000 | An off-duty National Weather Service employee and the Meriwether County 911 center reported trees blown down from Gay to east of Alvaton. Near the intersection of Clark Road and Greenville Street in Gay, a large oak tree was blown down onto a house and 2 vehicles, causing considerable damage to each. No injuries were reported. Several trees were blown down near the intersection of Highway 362 and Mt Carmel Road. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gay | $1,500 | The Meriwether County 911 Center reported that several trees were blown down in eastern Meriwether County, specifically along Gay Road near Murray Road and along Highway 100 near mile marker 10. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gay | $1,500 | The Meriwether County 911 Center reported that several trees were blown down in the Gay area. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gay | $1,000 | The Meriwether County 911 Center reported that up to four trees were down just south of Gay in the far northeast part of the county. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gay | $1,000 | The Meriwether County 911 Center reported that several trees were down in the Gay area. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gay | - | Multiple trees reported down within the town of Gay. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Gay | - | A report of hail the size of nickels in Gay was received over social media. |
| August 1999 | Hail | Gay | - | The public reported quarter size hail. |
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.
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 Gay | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2738857 | 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 355988. 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.




