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Nelson, Kentucky

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1909 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Central City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 42330. It lies near Sandhill. The Survey maps it on the Central City East quadrangle.

Nelson within Muhlenberg County

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 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

45 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 45 fires within 5 miles of Nelson between 1998 and 2020, burning about 2,193 acres in total. None started naturally. 8 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined19
Debris and open burning12
Arson/incendiarism8
Equipment and vehicle use2
Recreation and ceremony2
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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 September 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
13 September 2002Debris and open burning20 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
11 September 2002Debris and open burning20 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
11 September 2002Debris and open burning5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
31 August 2010Debris and open burning265 acresKentucky Division of ForestryNELSON CREEK 2
26 August 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
17 August 2008Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
16 August 2007Debris and open burning570 acresKentucky Division of ForestryNORTH WIND

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Muhlenberg County

Storms near this place

3 since 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Nelson in 3 storm reports between 2012 and 2025: 2 flood, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 2025FloodNelson$1,210,000Flash flooding from the evening of the 15th transitioned to areal flooding early on the 16th. Highway 1379 remained flooded, as did many other county roads from Central City to Powderly to Greenville.
February 2019FloodNelson-Kentucky 1379 was closed between the 0 and 3 mile markers due to flooding.
April 2012HailNelson-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Muhlenberg 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
Martwick1.4 miles15
Sunnyside (historical)2.5 miles15
Brownie (historical)2.6 miles15
Spring Ridge (historical)3.9 miles15
Central City4.6 miles15
South Carrollton4.9 miles16
Cedardale (historical)4.9 miles15
Drake (historical)5.0 miles15

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 499250. 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.