Lower Buffalo, Kentucky
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the St. Helens census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41311. It stands on Pawpaw Creek. The Survey maps it on the Beattyville quadrangle. It stands 682 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 13 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.
- 1892 USGS Beattyville quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1952 USGS Beattyville quadrangle1:24000
- 1957 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Beattyville quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1982 USGS Irvine quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
424 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 424 fires within 5 miles of Lower Buffalo between 1997 and 2020, burning about 7,729 acres in total. None started naturally. 85 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 | 158 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 134 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 85 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 38 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | WHITE ASH |
| 4 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 4 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 4 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 45 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 30 September 2001 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 28 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | JACK GAP |
| 27 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | WHITE ASH |
| 24 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 8.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | QUILLEN ROAD |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
6 since 2011Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lower Buffalo in 6 storm reports between 2011 and 2023: 5 thunderstorm wind, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2011 | Flash Flood | Lower Buffalo | $500,000 | A bridge was washed out on Paw Paw Creek Road south of Beattyville. In fact, several roads in Lee county were damaged due to flash flooding on June 20th. The governor of Kentucky declared a state of emergency in Lee county. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lower Buffalo | - | A member of the public reported several trees blown down on Pine Grove Road in southern Lee County near the Owsley County line. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lower Buffalo | - | Dispatch reported a tree blown down onto Buffalo Zion Road just south of Lower Buffalo. |
| May 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lower Buffalo | - | Trees were blown down. |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lower Buffalo | - | A tree was blown down on Hwy 11. |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lower Buffalo | - | A tree that was blown down by thunderstorm wind gusts was blocking Fox Hollow Rd. |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enoch | 1.3 miles | 13 | |
| Congleton | 2.3 miles | 13 | |
| Beattyville | 3.2 miles | 13 | |
| Proctor | 3.2 miles | 13 | |
| White Ash | 3.3 miles | 13 | |
| Maloney | 3.8 miles | 13 | |
| Belle Point | 4.0 miles | 13 | |
| Ida May | 4.2 miles | 11 |
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 Lower Buffalo | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6693352 | 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 513676. 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.





