BlockBefore

Magdalena, New Mexico

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Magdalena census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87825. It lies near Hop Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Magdalena quadrangle. 806 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,572 feet above sea level.

Magdalena within Socorro County

On record in Magdalena

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 12 of 15 shown

Every listing in Socorro County

Population over time

2 figures

Magdalena fell from 938 to 806 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.

YearPeople Change
2010938
2020806-132 (-14%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 10 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.

Photographs

1 photograph, 1940

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Windmill which furnishes water for private residences in Magdalena, New Mexico. Magdalena is the trading center for nearby ranches
Windmill which furnishes water for private residences in Magdalena, New Mexico. Magdalena is the trading center for nearby ranches
Lee, Russell, 1940. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

44 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 44 fires within 5 miles of Magdalena between 1992 and 2020, burning about 228 acres in total. 25 started naturally. None 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
Natural25
Debris and open burning8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Recreation and ceremony2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Smoking2
Fireworks1

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
31 August 2018Naturalunder an acreCibola National ForestJORDON CANYON
3 August 2003Naturalunder an acreCibola National ForestELLIS
25 August 1997Naturalunder an acreCibola National ForestMILL
9 July 2013Naturalunder an acreSocorro Field OfficeKELLY
4 July 2007Fireworksunder an acreCibola National ForestHWY 169
28 July 1993Naturalunder an acreCibola National Forestnot named
28 July 1993Naturalunder an acreCibola National Forestnot named
26 July 2006Naturalunder an acreCibola National ForestNORTH PEAK

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Socorro County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 57 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 57 workings within 5 miles of Magdalena: 32 past producers, 18 prospects, 3 occurrences, 2 unknowns. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Zinc, Lead, Silver, Gold, Zinc, Silver, Lead, Copper, Lead, Zinc. 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
AnchorZinc, Silver, LeadPast Producer
Belle Claim Patented In 1882Lead, Silver, Copper, Gold, ZincPast Producer1957
CavalierSilver, LeadProspect
Cavern and Grand LedgeLead, CopperPast Producer
Ellis Canyon ProspectSilver, Copper, LeadPast ProducerReplacement
GermanyLead, Copper, Zinc, SilverPast Producer
Gofor and Spire MineGold, Copper, SilverOccurrenceChalcocite, Covellite, Pyrite
HardscrabbleZinc, Lead, Copper, SilverPast Producer
HeisterLead, Barium-BariteOccurrence
Jack Frost MineLead, Silver, Zinc, Copper, Vanadium, Barium-Barite, Fluorine-FluoritePast Producer1925

Every working recorded in Socorro County

Storms near this place

13 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Magdalena in 13 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 5 flash flood, 4 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud. 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 2022Flash FloodMagdalena$50,000Forest thinning in the Magdalena Mountains resulted in a flash flooding event that made it easier for water to rush down an unnamed canyon. Floodwaters left behind a pile of debris 6 feet high and 20 feet wide that included steel fence posts and barbed wire, damaged trailed, and boulders that were 200 to 300 pounds. Damages are estimated.
August 2008LightningMagdalena$30,000no account filed
July 2010Flash FloodMagdalena$10,000A large landslide washed out the dirt road leading to the Magdalena Ridge Observatory and Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research.
August 2012Flash FloodMagdalena$5,000Sixty feet of forest service road 101 washed out and remained closed for over twelve hours. Culverts along road washed out as well with estimates that water was four feet deep. Public works and local law enforcements ferried 40 people living in the canyon that work in Magdalena with large four wheel drive vehicles after the water receded.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindMagdalena-A trained spotter in Magdalena reported an estimated peak wind gust of about 60 mph from a severe thunderstorm.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindMagdalena-A trained spotter near Magdalena estimated 60 mph wind gusts from a severe thunderstorm.
August 2019Flash FloodMagdalena-A large amount of boulders, rocks, mud, and debris damaged a section of Water Canyon Road.
August 2015Flash FloodMagdalena-U.S. Highway 60 closed due to high water at mile marker 124.
May 2012HailMagdalena-Half dollar size hail reported in Magdalena.
May 2007HailMagdalena-Funnel cloud reported by EMT north of Alamo.
August 1998Funnel CloudMagdalena-A funnel cloud was spotted from the Langmuir Lightning Research Lab in the Magdalena mountains.
July 1998HailMagdalena-A brief hail storm damaged trees and broke several winds.
June 2003HailMagdalena-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Socorro 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
Kelly3.1 miles10
Monica (historical)17.3 miles9
Lemitar17.9 miles13
Polvadera18.1 miles13
Riley18.2 miles9
Florida18.4 miles14
Escondida18.4 miles14
McNierney18.7 miles13

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 MagdalenaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q603734The 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 908353. 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.