Arpelar, Oklahoma
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1898 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Northwest Pittsburg census division. It lies in ZIP code area 74501. The Survey maps it on the Haywood quadrangle. 291 people lived here at the 2020 count.
Population over time
2 figuresArpelar grew from 272 to 291 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 | 272 | |
| 2020 | 291 | +19 (+7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 17 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.
- 1898 USGS Mc Alester quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1898 USGS McAlester quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1909 USGS Mc Alester quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1950 USGS Mcalester quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Mc Alester quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS McAlester quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Mc Alester quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS McAlester quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Haywood quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1991 USGS Mc Alester quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
12 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Arpelar between 1993 and 2017, burning about 1,768 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 30 acres | Talihina Agency | KILBORN1 |
| 1 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 20078 |
| 5 April 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Talihina Agency | PYLEMTNRD |
| 5 April 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Talihina Agency | PYLEPIPELI |
| 26 March 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | ARPELAR 222 |
| 21 March 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | not named |
| 18 March 2010 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 20073 |
| 17 March 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Talihina Agency | ARPELAR |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
27 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Arpelar in 27 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 13 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 2 flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2025 | Tornado (EF1) | Arpelar | $100,000 | A line of thunderstorms approaching McAlester rapidly organized and developed a strong push of wind as it approached Pyle Mountain. Those winds contributed to the development of a large squall line circulation (QLCS), and resulted in the development of a tornado near Pyle Mountain. The tornado traveled east-southeast, crossing the Indian Nation Turnpike, and moved into the area around the State Penitentiary. Minor damage occurred at the McAlester-Pittsburg County Emergency Operations Center. The strong push of wind, which initially contributed to the development of the tornado, strengthened further and became the dominate feature. The tornado dissipated in north McAlester after crossing north Main Street. It uprooted numerous trees, and damaged homes, buildings and businesses. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 90 to 95 mph. |
| March 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arpelar | $100,000 | no account filed |
| March 2024 | Hail | Arpelar | $15,000 | Half dollar size hail damaged vehicles and homes. |
| May 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arpelar | $8,000 | A home's roof was partially removed. |
| February 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arpelar | $2,000 | Thunderstorm winds did damage to the roof of a house and a roof of a barn. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arpelar | $1,000 | Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down four power poles. |
| December 2015 | Flood | Arpelar | - | Portions of US 270 east of Arpelar were closed due to flooding. |
| December 2015 | Flood | Arpelar | - | Portions of Highway 270 east of the Indian Nation Turnpike to Arpelar were closed due to flooding. |
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arpelar | - | Strong thunderstorm wind blew down several trees. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arpelar | - | Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew down large tree limbs. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arpelar | - | Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew down numerous large tree limbs. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arpelar | - | A mesonet site recorded a 61 mph wind gust. |
| August 2003 | Flash Flood | Arpelar | - | Heavy thunderstorm rains caused Scipio Road to be closed due to flooding. |
| June 2003 | Flash Flood | Arpelar | - | Heavy thunderstorm rains with totals estimated in excess of 2 inches in a short period of time caused a few rural roads to be washed out near Arpelar. |
| May 1999 | Hail | Arpelar | - | Location: at the Atoka/Pittsburg county line |
| April 2024 | Hail | Arpelar | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Arpelar | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Arpelar | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Arpelar | - | no account filed |
| March 2008 | Hail | Arpelar | - | no account filed |
| March 2008 | Hail | Arpelar | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Arpelar | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Arpelar | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arpelar | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Hail | Arpelar | - | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Arpelar | - | no account filed |
| April 1995 | Hail | Arpelar | - | 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.
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 Arpelar | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5670456 | 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 1089709. 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.
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.









