South West City, Missouri
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1907 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Prairie Township. It lies in ZIP code area 64863. The Survey maps it on the South West City quadrangle. 922 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 938 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSouth West City fell from 970 to 922 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 970 | |
| 2020 | 922 | -48 (-5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 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.
- 1907 USGS Wyandotte quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1909 USGS Wyandotte quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Tulsa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Tulsa quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1963 USGS Tulsa quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS South West City quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Neosho quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
50 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 50 fires within 5 miles of South West City between 1992 and 2018, burning about 1,897 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 17 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 17 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 |
| Debris and open burning | 12 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 2.0 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | not named |
| 7 August 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 30424 |
| 6 August 2006 | Natural | 7.0 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 30553 |
| 27 August 2012 | Natural | under an acre | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 30387 |
| 17 August 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | not named |
| 10 August 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 30567 |
| 8 July 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 19 July 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 30346 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of South West City: 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unk | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
20 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names South West City in 20 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 8 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 1 tornado. The reports record 2 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2011 | Tornado (EF3) | South West City | 2 hurt, $1,000,000 | A storm survey concluded that an EF-3 tornado crossed into McDonald County from adjacent Delaware County, Oklahoma. The tornado crossed Stateline Road 2.8 miles north of Southwest City, Missouri at 7:26 pm and destroyed a single family resident and vehicles near the residence. The vehicles rolled up to 200 yards away from the house. Several trees were uprooted along the path of the tornado as it tracked southeast towards chicken houses near the intersection of Highway 43 and Farm Road 4385. The tornado lifted right before reaching Highway 43 about 2.2 miles north northeast of Southwest City. Maximum wind speeds were estimated between 150 and 160 mph. The maximum width of the path was estimated at a quarter of a mile wide. |
| January 2008 | Flash Flood | South West City | $500,000 | Training supercell thunderstorms caused major flash flooding in countless locations of McDonald County. Numerous roads and low water crossings were washed away. A picket fence two miles south of Noel along Higwhay 59 was completely washed away and destroyed. |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | South West City | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds down tree limbs in South West City and broke windows in Noel. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | South West City | $2,000 | A tree and large branches were downed in Southwest city. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | South West City | $2,000 | Several power lines were reported down. |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | South West City | $2,000 | no account filed |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | South West City | $1,000 | A large tree was blown down onto a farm building near South West City. Minor damage to the structure occurred. |
| July 2018 | Hail | South West City | - | Up to nickle size hail was reported. |
| August 2010 | Flash Flood | South West City | - | Excessive rainfall caused significant street flooding. |
| April 2008 | Flash Flood | South West City | - | Numerous road closures across the county occurred in response to flash flooding. |
| March 2008 | Hail | South West City | - | Hail and up to 50 MPH winds were reported. |
| March 2017 | Hail | South West City | - | no account filed |
| March 2006 | Hail | South West City | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | South West City | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | South West City | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | South West City | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Hail | South West City | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Flash Flood | South West City | - | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | South West City | - | no account filed |
| March 1996 | Hail | South West City | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saratoga | 3.5 miles | 13 | |
| Pack | 4.2 miles | 13 | |
| Spring Valley | 6.5 miles | 13 | |
| Armstrong Quarry | 6.8 miles | 13 | |
| Noel | 7.1 miles | 13 | |
| Mount Shira | 9.1 miles | 13 | |
| Ginger Blue | 9.6 miles | 13 | |
| Elk Springs | 9.6 miles | 13 |
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 South West City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q968090 | 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 758447. 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.






