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Placitas, New Mexico

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 2006. It stands in the Rio Rancho census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87043. It stands on Arroyo Colorado. The Survey maps it on the Placitas quadrangle. 5,041 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,955 feet above sea level.

Placitas within Sandoval County

Population over time

2 figures

Placitas grew from 4,977 to 5,041 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
20104,977
20205,041+64 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 20 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

58 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 58 fires within 5 miles of Placitas between 1992 and 2020, burning about 102 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 2 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 ceremony20
Missing data/not specified/undetermined15
Debris and open burning9
Natural8
Arson/incendiarism2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Smoking1
Other causes1

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
8 September 1992Smoking1.0 acresCibola National Forestnot named
17 September 1993Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionJAMES
1 September 2005Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionORLANDO
5 August 2005Debris and open burning1.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionPLACITAS
3 August 2011Naturalunder an acreSouthern Pueblos AgencyPIEDRA LISA
20 August 2001Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionHUERTAS
14 August 1996Natural20 acresCibola National ForestPLACITAS
6 July 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreCibola National ForestSANDIA CF 028

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sandoval County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 22 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 22 workings within 5 miles of Placitas: 7 prospects, 7 past producers, 4 occurrences, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver, Lead, Copper, Barium-Barite, Lead. 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
Buckeye ClaimLead, Silver, CopperProspect
Crummy Number One ProspectCopper, Lead, Fluorine-FluoriteProspect
Donnell ProspectGold, Silver, CopperOccurrence
Landsend ProspectFluorine-Fluorite, Barium-BariteOccurrence1955
Manual RuizClayProducerSedimentary
San Jose GroupCopper, Lead, SilverProspect
La LuzGold, SilverPast Producer
PlacitasGold, SilverPast Producer
Sloan MineCopperPast Producer
Landsend ProspectBarium-Barite, Lead, Fluorine-FluoriteProspect

Every working recorded in Sandoval County

Storms near this place

9 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Placitas in 9 storm reports between 2005 and 2022: 5 flash flood, 2 hail, 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2006Flash FloodPlacitas$100,000no account filed
July 2021Flash FloodPlacitas$35,000An estimated 2.5 to 3.5 inches of heavy rainfall in under an hour caused flash flooding in Placitas. Several roads and drainage ditches in the Placitas area were flooded with mud and debris also covering roadways. Damages are estimated.
August 2022Flash FloodPlacitas$20,000Heavy rain near Golden caused flash flooding on Puertocito Road, forcing the closure of the roadway with debris and large boulders rendering it unpassable. Time of the report is estimated based on radar. Damages are estimated.
October 2010Thunderstorm WindPlacitas$1,000Tree limbs greater than 2 inches in diameter were blown down.
August 2016Flash FloodPlacitas-High water, mud, rocks, and debris flowing across highway 165 from nearby dirt roads.
August 2016Flash FloodPlacitas-Las Huertas Creek flooded out of it's banks and up to back door of one home. No damage. Sand bags were requested.
October 2014Thunderstorm WindPlacitas-A passing virga shower produced a severe wind gust to 66 mph at an APRS site near Placitas.
October 2010HailPlacitas-no account filed
April 2005HailPlacitas-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sandoval 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
Los Pastores0.6 miles20
Village de las Huertas0.9 miles20
Las Huertas1.0 miles20
Montezuma (historical)1.1 miles20
The Overlook1.3 miles20
Tecolote1.3 miles20
Puesta Del Sol1.5 miles20
Ranchos des Placitas2.1 miles20

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 PlacitasAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1836445The 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 915877. 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.