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Alta Vista, Kansas

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Garfield Township. It lies in ZIP code area 66834. The Survey maps it on the Alta Vista quadrangle. 409 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,457 feet above sea level.

Alta Vista within Wabaunsee County

On record in Alta Vista

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

2 figures

Alta Vista fell from 444 to 409 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
2010444
2020409-35 (-8%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 15 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

10 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Alta Vista between 2015 and 2018, burning about 114 acres in total. None started naturally. None 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
Debris and open burning6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Other causes1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
20 July 2017Equipment and vehicle use3.0 acresMorris County10
20 July 2017Debris and open burning7.0 acresMorris County11
11 April 2017Debris and open burning5.0 acresMorris County9
3 March 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresKansas Forest Service5
26 March 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined35 acresKansas Forest Service10
21 March 2018Debris and open burning25 acresKansas Forest Service8
18 March 2017Debris and open burning12 acresMorris County5
14 October 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreKansas Forest Service18

Every fire recorded in Wabaunsee County

Storms near this place

60 of 70 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alta Vista in 70 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 44 hail, 17 thunderstorm wind, 5 tornado, 3 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
June 2004Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$45,000Strong winds damaged several outbuildings and silos.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$15,000Strong winds blew down tree limbs as large as 2 feet in diameter onto vehicles doing damage.
September 2010Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$2,000Two tree up to 2 feet in diameter snapped in half along K4 Highway.
August 1997Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$2,000no account filed
June 2009HailAlta Vista$1,000Tree damage and bay window broken on house were reported.
June 2009HailAlta Vista$1,000Tree damage and bay window broken was on house.
May 2025Tornado (EF0)Alta Vista-A small tornado produce tree damage just north of a property in southern Wabaunsee County. The small tornado moved east of highway 4 and into pastureland where there were few damage indicators. The end point was estimated based on radar imagery.
June 2025HailAlta Vista-Estimated hail to quarter size in diameter.
March 2024Tornado (EF2)Alta Vista-NWS damage survey along with multiple video accounts show a tornado formed just east of Alta Vista then tracked over mainly rural areas of Wabaunsee County to the northeast producing damage along an 8.5 mile long track. The tornado was most intense just northeast of Alta Vista and southeast of Volland where EF2 damage was found to hardwood trees where widespread healthy tree trunks were snapped on the west side of the circulation. The survey crew could not access further east closer to the center point or eastern flank of the tornado circulation damage path however it is estimated that this was around 300 yards wide at its widest point. Maximum winds estimated to around 115 mph based upon damage to hardwood trees.
April 2023Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-Wind gust of 65 mph reported by NWS employee.
May 2020Tornado (EFU)Alta Vista-Storm chasers also reported a small tornado on the ground northeast of Alta Vista. No damage was reported from this tornado. Other chasers viewing this storm from 15-20 miles east of it also reported a tornado around 825 pm looking west toward Wabaunsee County.
August 2019Tornado (EFU)Alta Vista-Law enforcement reported 2 small tornadoes this is the northern tornado. No damage was noted with the tornadoes however reports and radar do suggest that they existed in some form. Path and time are estimated off radar and reports.
May 2017Tornado (EF0)Alta Vista-A report from a chaser indicated a brief tornado in open country in the Flint Hills. No damage was reported. The tornado lasted less than 30 seconds.
May 2017HailAlta Vista-Report received via social media.
May 2017HailAlta Vista-The report was time estimated via radar.
June 2014FloodAlta Vista-Minor flooding of creek. Water appears to be more than 1 foot deep over low water crossing but creek still running within banks.
May 2012HailAlta Vista-The hail fell for 10 minutes.
March 2012HailAlta Vista-This is a delayed report, discovered on social media.
April 2011Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-Spotter measured winds of 65 mph.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-A tree was knocked over 2 miles south of Alta Vista.
August 2010Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-A trained spotter reported 60 mph winds. a metal flag pole was pushed over as a result of the wind.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-Two inch limbs are breaking off trees.
June 2009HailAlta Vista-Tree damage and bay window broken on house were reported.
July 2008HailAlta Vista-Several trained spotter in Alta Vista reported hail from one and three quarter inches in diameter to two and a half inches in diameter.
March 2006HailAlta Vista-Hail covered the ground.
June 2004Flash FloodAlta Vista-Heavy rains produced flash flooding that did crop damage near Alta Vista.
June 2004Flash FloodAlta Vista-Heavy rains of 6 to 10 inches produced flash flooding near Alta Vista.
June 2004Flash FloodAlta Vista-Heavy rains caused a creek to overflow.
April 2026HailAlta Vista-no account filed
August 2019HailAlta Vista-no account filed
April 2016HailAlta Vista-no account filed
May 2013HailAlta Vista-no account filed
May 2012HailAlta Vista-no account filed
May 2012HailAlta Vista-no account filed
April 2011HailAlta Vista-no account filed
April 2011HailAlta Vista-no account filed
June 2009HailAlta Vista-no account filed
June 2009HailAlta Vista-no account filed
June 2009HailAlta Vista-no account filed
July 2008HailAlta Vista-no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-no account filed
June 2008HailAlta Vista-no account filed
October 2007HailAlta Vista-no account filed
July 2007HailAlta Vista-no account filed
April 2006HailAlta Vista-no account filed
April 2006HailAlta Vista-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-no account filed
June 2005HailAlta Vista-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-no account filed
June 2004HailAlta Vista-no account filed
November 2003HailAlta Vista-no account filed
April 2002HailAlta Vista-no account filed
April 2002HailAlta Vista-no account filed
April 2002HailAlta Vista-no account filed
June 2002HailAlta Vista-no account filed
May 2002Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-no account filed
May 2002HailAlta Vista-no account filed
May 2002HailAlta Vista-no account filed
June 2002Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Wabaunsee 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
Volland7.1 miles15
Allendorph14.6 miles16
Alma14.9 miles16
Hessdale15.2 miles16
McFarland18.6 miles16
Eskridge20.1 miles16
Wabaunsee20.9 miles17
Paxico22.2 miles16

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 Alta VistaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2629514The 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 476909. 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.