Cloudcroft, New Mexico
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1952 and the latest in 2004. It stands in the Southeast Otero census division. It lies in ZIP code area 88317. It lies near Mexican Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Cloudcroft quadrangle. 750 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 8,668 feet above sea level.
On record in Cloudcroft
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 3 records
Mexican Canyon Trestlelisted 1979
Wofford Lookout Complexlisted 1988- Bridge A 249-Cloudcroft, New Mexicolisted 2015
Population over time
2 figuresCloudcroft grew from 674 to 750 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 | 674 | |
| 2020 | 750 | +76 (+11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 11 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.
- 1952 USGS Cloudcroft quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Carlsbad quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Carlsbad quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1977 USGS Cloudcroft quadrangle1:24000
- 1979 USGS Alamogordo quadrangle1:100000
- 2004 USGS Cloudcroft quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
192 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 192 fires within 5 miles of Cloudcroft between 1992 and 2020, burning about 46 acres in total. 59 started naturally. 3 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 |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 92 |
| Natural | 59 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Fireworks | 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 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Lincoln National Forest | SLASH PIT |
| 4 September 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Lincoln National Forest | SLEEPY GRASS |
| 28 September 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Lincoln National Forest | GATE |
| 18 September 1994 | Natural | under an acre | Lincoln National Forest | not named |
| 1 September 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Lincoln National Forest | LA LUZ 2 |
| 9 August 2016 | Natural | under an acre | Lincoln National Forest | HAYNES |
| 4 August 1999 | Natural | under an acre | Lincoln National Forest | CHIPPEWAY |
| 31 August 2002 | Natural | under an acre | Lincoln National Forest | SULLIVAN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Cloudcroft: 2 past producers, 2 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper, Lead, Stone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hill Deposit | Copper, Lead | Past Producer | ||
| State Hwy Pit No. 58-99-S | Stone | Unknown | ||
| Cloudcroft C335 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Cloudcroft Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
27 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cloudcroft in 27 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 18 hail, 5 flash flood, 3 heavy rain, 1 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2013 | Hail | Cloudcroft | $250 | Golf ball size hail was reported on Highway 244 east of Cloudcroft which broke a windshield. |
| July 2012 | Hail | Cloudcroft | $10 | A local trained spotter reported several minutes of .70 inch hail across western portions of the city of Cloudcroft in association with a strong thunderstorm that moved over the area. .50 inches of heavy rain was also reported from this storm. |
| July 2025 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | An NWS Student Volunteer reported hail up to one inch in diameter east of Cloudcroft. |
| July 2025 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | Hail up to the size of quarters and as deep as 4 inches in areas was reported around Cloudcroft. Snow plows were called in order to remove the hail from roads. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | A trained spotter near Silver Lake reported hail up to the size of pennies. |
| July 2022 | Heavy Rain | Cloudcroft | - | The Otero County Emergency Manager reported up to 4 inches of rain had fallen in less than 2 hours at the Waterfall Lodge and along Cox Canyon Highway. |
| July 2021 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | Golf ball size hail. |
| September 2016 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | Hail was up to 2 inches deep. |
| July 2016 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | Dime to nickel sized hail reported just south-southeast of Cloudcroft. |
| September 2014 | Heavy Rain | Cloudcroft | - | A CoCoRaHS Observer 5 miles northeast of Cloudcroft reported 2.99 inches of rain between the 16th and early on the 19th. |
| July 2013 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | Mescalero Fire Department reported pea to nickel sized hail covering the ground up to 6 inches in depth along highway 244. |
| July 2013 | Flash Flood | Cloudcroft | - | Mescalero Fire Department reported 8 to 12 inches of water along with debris covering Highway 244 between mile markers 10 and 18. Road was closed for a short while. |
| September 2013 | Flash Flood | Cloudcroft | - | Water was over the roads and driveways in Sixteen Springs. Ditches were running 1 to 2 feet deep. |
| September 2013 | Flash Flood | Cloudcroft | - | Flooding with necessary evacuations occurred around Sixteen Springs and Walker Canyon. Spotter reports of 2 inches of rain in an hour with County Road 10 washed out east of Sixteen Springs. |
| August 2012 | Heavy Rain | Cloudcroft | - | The local COOP observer for Cloudcroft reported 1.17 inches of heavy rain. The local emergency manager also reported heavy rain and some minor street flood occurring across western and southern parts of Cloudcroft. |
| July 2011 | Flash Flood | Cloudcroft | - | A total of 5.5 inches of rain was reported in Cloudcroft. Flooding was reported around the Cloudcroft High School area, around the water treatment plant and over Highway 130. The intersection of Chautauqua and Woodlands Roads was closed due to water over the road. Other rainfall totals over the Sacramento Mountains included 2.99 inches 4 miles southwest of Silver Lake and 2.65 inches of rain at the Dry Canyon Mesonet Station 3 miles south-southwest of Silver Lake. |
| May 2010 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | Hail up to one inch in diameter was reported in Cloudcroft. |
| August 2010 | Flash Flood | Cloudcroft | - | Storm drainage culverts on Highway 130 near mile marker 16 were plugged and 2 feet of water was flowing over the highway. The highway was impassable. |
| July 2007 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | Penny to nickel size hail covered the ground. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | Hail up to ping pong size accumulated to a 2 inch depth about 2 miles southeast of Cloudcroft. The majority of the hailstones were nickel size. |
| June 2007 | Tornado (EF0) | Cloudcroft | - | A small rope-like tornado was reported by weather observers at Holloman AFB. It was observed for 8 minutes over the Sacramento Mountains beneath a thunderstorm about 3 miles southeast of Cloudcroft. The tornado was nearly stationary while the thunderstorm moved south. |
| June 2003 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | Holloman AFB personnel involved in training south of Cloudcroft experienced 40 minutes of half-inch hail with the largest hailstones slightly larger than 1 inch in diameter. |
| July 2002 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | Hail up to the size of quarters covered the ground to a depth of 2 inches. |
| May 2006 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Hail | Cloudcroft | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chippeway Park | 3.8 miles | 11 | |
| Mountain Park | 4.4 miles | 11 | |
| High Rolls | 5.0 miles | 11 | |
| Wimsatt | 5.3 miles | 11 | |
| Marcia | 9.0 miles | 11 | |
| La Luz | 10.7 miles | 12 | |
| Hortonville | 11.4 miles | 11 | |
| Silver Springs | 11.6 miles | 9 |
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 Cloudcroft | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q432556 | 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 905216. 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.





