Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Southwick, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Southwick town. It lies in ZIP code area 01077. It stands on Southwick Hill. The Survey maps it on the Southwick quadrangle.

Southwick within Hampden County

Then and now

1887 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 110 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Southwick, surveyed 1997

Topographic sheet of Southwick, surveyed 1887

Compare 1887 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

42 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 nearby

88 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 88 fires within 5 miles of Southwick between 2015 and 2020, burning about 58 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 1 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/undetermined	42
Equipment and vehicle use	29
Natural	7
Recreation and ceremony	4
Debris and open burning	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1
Smoking	1
Fireworks	1
Arson/incendiarism	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
8 September 2016	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
5 September 2018	Natural	2.0 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
28 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
17 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
14 September 2016	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
13 September 2016	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
13 September 2016	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
11 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hampden County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 2,585 shown

Museums hold 2,585 specimens collected within 10 miles of Southwick between 1844 and 1975: 1,371 Fungi, 741 Plantae, 393 Animalia, 58 Chromista, 22 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. B. Seymour & A. C. Seymour, A. B. Seymour & Clara E. Cummings and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Fungi	1890	Seymour, Arthur Bliss	Granville
Gymnosporangium globosum (Farl.) Farl.	1890	Arthur B. Seymour	Granville
Sphagnum recurvum P.Beauv.	1893	Daniel C. Eaton
Carex siccata Dewey	1844	Collector unknown
Amphicarpaea bracteata (L.) Fernald	1845	Collector unspecified
Alopecurus geniculatus L.	1850	not recorded
Lactuca hirsuta Muhl. ex Nutt.	1850	Collector unspecified
Carex canescens L.	1852	Collector unknown	Westfield.
Carex pallescens L.	1852	Collector unknown	Westfield
Eurybia schreberi (Nees) Nees	1852	C. A. Shurtleff
Lonicera dioica L.	1852	Collector unknown
Chelone glabra L.	1891	not recorded

All 2,585 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 13 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Southwick: 7 past producers, 5 producers, 1 occurrence. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Flagstone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Sandstone Quarry	Flagstone	Past Producer
Granville Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Great Brook Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Southwick Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Southwick Pit and Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Southwick Sand and Gravel	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Arkose Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Arkose Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Arkose Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Trap Rock Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Occurrence

Every working recorded in Hampden County

Storms nearby

29 since 1998

The National Weather Service names Southwick in 29 storm reports between 1998 and 2021: 16 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 3 heavy rain, 2 flood. The reports record 2 injuries. 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
May 2008	Lightning	Southwick	2 hurt	Two brothers were hospitalized after lightning struck the ground directly in front of them. Their injuries were non life threatening.
May 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$50,000	Trees and wires were downed by thunderstorm winds throughout much of Southwick, temporarily closing 14 roads. A barn at the intersections of Routes 10 and 202 was also damaged by the wind.
May 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$30,000	Numerous trees, limbs, and wires were downed throughout Southwick and Westfield, including on Route 57 and South Longyard and Sunnyside Roads in Southwick.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$20,000	A tree on Summer Drive was downed onto a house, damaging the roof.
August 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$15,000	Multiple trees on Eagle Street and Point Grove Road were downed by thunderstorm winds.
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$15,000	Trees, wires, and tree limbs were downed by thunderstorm winds, including on Sheep Pasture Road.
September 2003	Flash Flood	Southwick	$15,000	no account filed
October 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$10,000	Large trees were down on Route 202 and Feeding Hills Road. Route 202 was blocked by the downed tree and the tree on Feeding Hills Road was downed onto wires.
February 2008	Flood	Southwick	$10,000	Several basements were flooded in Southwick. In Springfield, Allen and Cooley Streets were flooded.
June 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$10,000	no account filed
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$5,000	A tree and wires were downed on Feeding Hills Road.
December 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$5,000	Trees were downed on Pawling Road and Coes Hill Road in Southwick.
June 2006	Flood	Southwick	$5,000	no account filed
May 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$2,000	Southwick Emergency Management Director reported trees and wires down on Rising Corner Road at 1252 AM EDT.
August 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$2,000	At 235 PM EST, a tree was downed at 454 College Highway in Southwick. At 240 PM EST, a tree was down on wires at Sam West Road.
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$2,000	Large branches along Route 202 were downed by thunderstorm winds.
December 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$2,000	Trees were downed in Southwick.
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$1,800	In Southwick, a large tree and wires were down on South Longyard Road. Also, a tree was down on Sheep Pasture Road.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	$1,000	In Southwick, trees and power lines were down near Route 202 and Bugbee Road.
December 2019	Hail	Southwick	-	Quarter size hail fell in Southwick, MA at 334 PM EST from an isolated severe thunderstorm. This was a very unusual event for late December. It was definitely bona fide hail, not related to the ongoing sleet/freezing rain event.
May 2018	Hail	Southwick	-	At 3:10 PM EST, walnut-size hail fell on Southwick MA. The same thunderstorm brought nickel-size hail to the neighboring town of Granville.
May 2017	Hail	Southwick	-	At 639 PM EST, nickel size hail was reported in Southwick.
August 2007	Hail	Southwick	-	Penny size hail.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Southwick	-	Trees and powerlines down. One tree fell onto a house.
June 2011	Hail	Southwick	-	no account filed
June 2002	Hail	Southwick	-	no account filed
June 2000	Heavy Rain	Southwick	-	no account filed
July 2000	Heavy Rain	Southwick	-	no account filed
October 1998	Heavy Rain	Southwick	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hampden 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Camp Berkshire	1.7 miles	42
Gillett Corner	2.2 miles	42
Congamond	2.4 miles	42
Vining Hill	2.5 miles	42
Hosmer Corner	2.5 miles	48
Shea Corner	3.8 miles	48
Little River	4.1 miles	48
Johnson Corner	4.1 miles	48

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 608501. 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.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

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.