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Thelma, Kentucky

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Paintsville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41260. It stands on Rockhouse Branch. The Survey maps it on the Paintsville quadrangle. It stands 636 feet above sea level.

Thelma within Johnson County

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 17 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

240 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 240 fires within 5 miles of Thelma between 1997 and 2020, burning about 5,250 acres in total. None started naturally. 46 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 burning79
Missing data/not specified/undetermined64
Recreation and ceremony47
Arson/incendiarism46
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Smoking1
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
28 September 1998Arson/incendiarism4.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
25 September 2010Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryLITTLE MUD LICK RT. 201
25 September 2008Debris and open burning30 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
24 September 2008Debris and open burning25 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
24 September 1999Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
22 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
22 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined25 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
21 September 2019Arson/incendiarism6.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryBARBER BRANCH III

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Johnson County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Thelma: 2 prospects. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay. 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
Greasy Creek Clay BedClayProspect
Whippoorwill Branch ShaleClayProspect

Every working recorded in Johnson County

Storms near this place

6 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thelma in 6 storm reports between 2001 and 2022: 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 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
July 2018Thunderstorm WindThelma$10,000An NWS Storm Survey confirmed microburst winds of between 75-85 mph felled several trees east of Paintsville, including one which fell on a residential building.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindThelma$3,000Trees and power lines were blown down in and near the community of Thelma.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindThelma$1,000A couple of large tree limbs were blown down.
March 2021FloodThelma-High water and widespread flooding are occurring throughout the community of Thelma, just east of Prestonsburg.
March 2012HailThelma-Golf ball to hen egg size hail fell in Thelma. The hail covered the ground up to 2 inches deep in places.
May 2001HailThelma-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Johnson 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
Thealka1.3 miles17
Tutor Key1.7 miles17
Williamsport1.9 miles16
Meally2.1 miles16
Paintsville2.2 miles17
Dawkins2.2 miles17
West Van Lear2.4 miles17
Hagerhill2.7 miles17

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 ThelmaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7781043The 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 509202. 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.