BlockBefore

Byars, Oklahoma

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1898 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the East McClain census division. It lies in ZIP code area 74831. The Survey maps it on the Byars quadrangle. 184 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,030 feet above sea level.

Byars within McClain County

On record in Byars

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 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Byars fell from 255 to 184 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
2010255
2020184-71 (-28%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 15 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

1 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Byars in 2004, burning about 5 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/undetermined1

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
1 April 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresChickasaw AgencyJOHNSON

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in McClain County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Byars: 3 past producers, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Copper, Silver, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Byars SouthwestCopper, SilverPast Producer1850, 1851, 1913
Copper ProspectCopper, SilverProspect
Unknown Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unknown Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in McClain County

Storms near this place

35 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Byars in 35 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 15 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 5 tornado, 2 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
April 2011Tornado (EF1)Byars$5,000Numerous chasers observed a tornado near state highway 59 to the east of Byars. An outbuilding was damaged by this tornado. Several trees were downed. A downed power line caused the town to be without power for several hours. Monetary damages were estimated.
June 2025Tornado (EF0)Byars$2,000Scattered tree damage was observed from Ward Avenue about 2 miles north of State Highway 59 to Johnsonville Road about a mile and a half north of Byars.
April 2001Thunderstorm WindByars$10Large tree limbs were downed.
November 2024Thunderstorm WindByars-Byars (BYAR) Mesonet observation.
November 2024Thunderstorm WindByars-Byars (BYAR) Mesonet observation.
March 2020Flash FloodByars-Water flowing over the road near Byars. Other roads were washed out between Byars and Stratford.
August 2016Flash FloodByars-Water was covering roads in Byars making roads impassible. Bar ditches were full or overflowing on county roads.
April 2016Thunderstorm WindByars-No damage was reported.
December 2015Tornado (EF0)Byars-A brief weak tornado was reported.
April 2011Tornado (EF0)Byars-Numerous storm chasers observed a tornado just to the west-southwest of Byars. However, no known damage was reported with this tornado.
April 2009Tornado (EF1)Byars-This tornado developed west of Stratford in Garvin County and moved into McClain County about one half mile west of U.S. Highway 177. The tornado destroyed a greenhouse and damaged a barn to the west of the highway before crossing the highway and dissipating about one mile north of the county line.
May 2003Thunderstorm WindByars-Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
June 2001Thunderstorm WindByars-A wishing well was blown over.
February 2023Thunderstorm WindByars-no account filed
June 2022Thunderstorm WindByars-no account filed
June 2019Thunderstorm WindByars-no account filed
March 2017HailByars-no account filed
July 2017Thunderstorm WindByars-no account filed
July 2017Thunderstorm WindByars-no account filed
April 2011HailByars-no account filed
May 2011HailByars-no account filed
April 2009HailByars-no account filed
July 2009HailByars-no account filed
June 2005HailByars-no account filed
April 2004HailByars-no account filed
July 2004HailByars-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindByars-no account filed
July 2004HailByars-no account filed
April 2003HailByars-no account filed
April 2003HailByars-no account filed
September 2001HailByars-no account filed
January 1996HailByars-no account filed
January 1996HailByars-no account filed
April 1994HailByars-no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindByars-no account filed

Every storm recorded in McClain 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
Johnsonville1.5 miles15
Chism6.6 miles11
Rosedale7.7 miles15
Wayne14.3 miles16
Purcell19.1 miles17
Stealy19.3 miles16
Payne25.5 miles14
Washington26.3 miles18

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 ByarsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3087237The 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 1090771. 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.