BlockBefore

Rayle, Georgia

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Rayle census division. It lies in ZIP code area 30660. The Survey maps it on the Rayle quadrangle. 158 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 702 feet above sea level.

Rayle within Wilkes County

On record in Rayle

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

3 figures

Rayle grew from 139 to 158 between 2000 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
2000139
2010199+60 (+43%)
2020158-41 (-21%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 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

102 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 102 fires within 5 miles of Rayle between 1992 and 2019, burning about 490 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 6 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 burning49
Missing data/not specified/undetermined15
Equipment and vehicle use11
Recreation and ceremony7
Arson/incendiarism6
Natural6
Smoking6
Misuse of fire by a minor2

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 2005Equipment and vehicle use2.4 acresGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
30 September 1994Debris and open burning2.9 acresGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
3 September 1999Smokingunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
23 September 1996Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
22 September 2018Debris and open burning13 acresGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2019WILKES001
19 September 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2011-WILKES-008
14 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2012-WILKES-013
6 August 2002Debris and open burning7.8 acresGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2003-WILKES-002

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Wilkes County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Rayle: 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
Latimer Mine (Fairy Ridge)GoldPast ProducerVein

Every working recorded in Wilkes County

Storms near this place

13 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rayle in 13 storm reports between 1997 and 2017: 9 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
April 2011Thunderstorm WindRayle$150,000The Wilkes County Emergency Management Director reported that more than a dozen trees and several power lines were down across the county. Two homes sustained minor to moderate damage.
August 2008HailRayle$30,000The public observed golf ball-sized hail south of Rayle.
February 2005HailRayle$25,000The Wilkes County Sherrif's Department reported half-dollar-sized hail in the Sardis Road area. Some vehicle damage was reported in the area.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindRayle$10,000The Wilkes County Emergency Manager reported numerous trees blown down across the county from near Rayle to Holiday Park.
November 2002Thunderstorm WindRayle$10,000A TV news reporter indicated that the roof of a home was partially damaged by thunderstorms winds in Rayle and that approximately 25 trees were down in Tignall.
December 2009Thunderstorm WindRayle$5,000The Wilkes County Emergency Management Director reported that a barn was blown across a field on Clark-Gresham Road, just northwest of Rayle near the Oglethorpe county line.
September 2009Flash FloodRayle$5,000The USGS stream gage on Kettle Creek just south of Washington reached its flood stage of 14 feet at 1145 pm EDT. The creek remained above flood stage for several hours. Monetary damage was confined to minor debris removal from areas adjacent to the creek.
March 1997Thunderstorm WindRayle$5,000no account filed
March 2008Thunderstorm WindRayle$3,000The Wilkes County Emergency Management Director reported that many trees were blown down, scattered about the county.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindRayle$2,000The Washington News Reporter indicated that skirting was blown off several mobile homes at a mobile home sales lot.
February 2005Thunderstorm WindRayle$1,000The Wilkes County Sherrif's Department reported that several large trees limbs were down in the Rayle area blocking some secondary roads.
August 1997Thunderstorm WindRayle$100Rayle EMC reported several large trees were blown down.
March 1997HailRayle-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Wilkes 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
Centerville1.4 miles12
Callaway1.9 miles12
Thaxton (historical)2.6 miles12
Celeste3.0 miles12
Linesville4.2 miles12
Lina (historical)4.8 miles13
Brickhouse4.8 miles12
New Town5.0 miles12

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 RayleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2218327The 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 332801. 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.