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Bessie, Oklahoma

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Northwest Washita census division. It lies in ZIP code area 73622. The Survey maps it on the Bessie quadrangle. 182 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,558 feet above sea level.

Bessie within Washita County

Population over time

2 figures

Bessie grew from 181 to 182 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
2010181
2020182+1 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 9 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

4 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Bessie between 2005 and 2011, burning about 7 acres in total. None 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Debris and open burning1

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
23 June 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresConcho Field OfficeWALK
16 April 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreConcho Field OfficeESLINGER
26 October 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresConcho Field OfficeOK STATE
14 January 2011Debris and open burning5.0 acresKickapoo Field OfficeTIRE CREEK

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Washita County

Storms near this place

60 of 82 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bessie in 82 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 65 thunderstorm wind, 14 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 flash 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2004Thunderstorm WindBessie$100,000A wind gust, possibly from a wet microburst, caused some damage in Bessie. Three empty grain cars of a train were toppled onto their side. There was also some minor roof damage and downed trees. The Bessie Fire Department also sustained some roof damage.
May 1996Thunderstorm WindBessie$35,000no account filed
July 2004Thunderstorm WindBessie$25,000Strong winds caused an area of damage along Highway 183, just 1.5 miles south of the Custer County line. A barn was destroyed, and a commercial building lost its roof. Several trees were also downed.
March 2007Thunderstorm WindBessie$20,000Damage was reported to carports and a barn. Sections of wood and brick fences were damaged, as well as power lines downed. Roof damage also occurred to one house. |
June 2007HailBessie$2,000A wheat field was totally destroyed by the hail. Monetary damages were estimated.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindBessie-Bessie (BESS) Mesonet observation.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindBessie-Bessie (BESS) Mesonet observation.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindBessie-Bessie (BESS) Mesonet observation.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindBessie-Bessie (BESS) Mesonet observation.
October 2014Thunderstorm WindBessie-No damage was reported.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindBessie-Mesonet site at Bessie recorded a gust to 72 mph at 2:45pm LST. Also gusted to 69 and 60 mph at 2:50pm and 2:55pm LST, respectively.
September 2012Thunderstorm WindBessie-Mesonet site at Bessie recorded a gust to 66 mph. Also recorded gusts to 57 mph and 60 mph at the prior (6:40 pm) and following (6:50 pm) observations, respectively.
November 2011HailBessie-The wind gusts were also estimated at 60 mph.
May 2010Tornado (EF0)Bessie-Spotters and emergency management personnel observed a tornado that developed over north-central Washita county and moved northeast into Custer county. No damage was reported in Washita county.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindBessie-Another gust to 63 mph was measured at 2205 CDT.
June 2007Flash FloodBessie-Several county roads were closed due to high water.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
March 2004Funnel CloudBessie-A well-defined funnel cloud was observed by several storm chasers.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma Mesonet.
June 2003Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
June 2003Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
August 2002Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
May 2001Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by Oklahoma mesonet.
May 2001Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by Oklahoma mesonet.
May 2001Thunderstorm WindBessie-Wind was measured by Oklahoma mesonet.
September 2001HailBessie-Hail was reported on Highway 183.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindBessie-Measured by Oklahoma Mesonet.
May 1997Thunderstorm WindBessie-measured at the Oklahoma Mesonet site
August 1997Thunderstorm WindBessie-measured at the Oklahoma Mesonet site
August 1997Thunderstorm WindBessie-measured at the Oklahoma Mesonet site
June 1994HailBessie-Thunderstorms developed in western Oklahoma during the early morning hours on the 10th and produced hail up to golf ball-size and damaging winds. Thunderstorm winds uprooted a two-foot-diameter tree in Clinton and downed tree limbs 12 miles south-southwest of Erick.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
July 2022Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
June 2022Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
June 2022Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
July 2021Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
June 2021Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
June 2020Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
June 2020Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
May 2019Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
May 2019Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
June 2019Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
July 2019Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
July 2019Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
May 2018Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
May 2018HailBessie-no account filed
July 2017Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
June 2016Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
July 2016Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
December 2016Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
July 2013Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
June 2013Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed
May 2013HailBessie-no account filed
August 2013Thunderstorm WindBessie-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Washita 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
Braithwaite3.8 miles11
Cordell6.6 miles9
Burns Flat10.0 miles11
Foss10.7 miles11
Dill City10.8 miles11
Corn10.9 miles9
Cloud Chief12.0 miles9
Canute15.6 miles8

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 BessieAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2614048The 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 1090021. 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.