Dunes, New Mexico
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1950 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Southeast Otero census division. It lies in ZIP code area 88310. The Survey maps it on the Deadman Canyon quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 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.
- 1950 USGS Escondido Canyon quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Carlsbad quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Carlsbad quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1979 USGS Alamogordo quadrangle1:100000
- 1981 USGS Deadman Canyon quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
1 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Dunes in 2001, burning about 40 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was 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 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 June 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 40 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | SOUTHLAND |
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 Dunes: 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Gold. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surprise Placers | Gold | Unknown |
Storms near this place
2 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dunes in 2 storm reports between 2007 and 2009: 1 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dunes | - | A mesonet site on White Sands Missile Range measured a gust of 70 mph. |
| May 2007 | Tornado (EF0) | Dunes | - | A small tornado briefly touched down in open desert south of U.S. 70 in extreme western Otero 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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valmont | 5.7 miles | 9 | |
| Dog Canyon Estates | 5.9 miles | 9 | |
| Boles Acres | 9.9 miles | 13 | |
| Point of Sands | 11.9 miles | 10 | |
| Omlee | 12.0 miles | 13 | |
| Monista (historical) | 12.4 miles | 10 | |
| Turquoise | 15.2 miles | 11 | |
| Alamogordo | 16.3 miles | 12 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1987911. 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.




