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

West Whately, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1985. It lies in ZIP code area 01027. The Survey maps it on the Easthampton quadrangle.

West Whately within Franklin County

Then and now

1885 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of West Whately, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of West Whately, surveyed 1885

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

24 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 24 fires within 5 miles of West Whately between 2015 and 2020, burning about 8 acres in total. 1 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/undetermined7
Equipment and vehicle use5
Debris and open burning5
Arson/incendiarism4
Recreation and ceremony2
Natural1

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
3 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
30 August 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 July 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 June 2019Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 June 2019Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 June 2019Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Every fire recorded in Franklin County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,757 shown

Museums hold 1,757 specimens collected within 10 miles of West Whately between 1838 and 1975: 1,312 Plantae, 364 Animalia, 78 Fungi, 3 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A., A. C. Gibson, A. Clark 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.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Camissonia LinkCamissonia Link1898B. L. Robinson
A photograph of the species Kalmia angustifolia, not of this specimenKalmia angustifolia f. angustifolia1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Kalmia latifolia, not of this specimenKalmia latifolia var. latifolia1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Pogonia ophioglossoides, not of this specimenPogonia ophioglossoides (L.) Ker Gawl.1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Stellaria graminea, not of this specimenStellaria graminea L.1849not recorded
A photograph of the species Erigeron philadelphicus, not of this specimenErigeron philadelphicus L.1858not recorded
A photograph of the species Rorippa palustris, not of this specimenRorippa palustris subsp. palustris1858not recorded
A photograph of the species Vitis aestivalis, not of this specimenVitis aestivalis Michx.1858not recorded
A photograph of the species Vitis cordifolia, not of this specimenVitis cordifolia Michx.1858not recorded
A photograph of the species Alisma plantago, not of this specimenAlisma plantago R.Br.1892not recordedNorthampton
A photograph of the species Clematis virginiana, not of this specimenClematis virginiana L.1892not recordedNorthampton
A photograph of the species Echinocystis lobata, not of this specimenEchinocystis lobata (Michx.) Torr. & A.Gray1892not recordedNorthampton

All 1,757 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

8 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of West Whately: 4 past producers, 4 producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Brick Clay, Clay, Stone, Dimension. 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
Granite Rock QuarryStone, DimensionProducer
Granite Rock QuarryGranitePast Producer
Bill Willard IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Clay PitBrick ClayProducerClay
Clay PitBrick ClayProducerClay
Clay PitClayPast Producer
Clay PitClayPast Producer
Florence PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Franklin County

Storms nearby

6 since 2017

The National Weather Service names West Whately in 6 storm reports between 2017 and 2024: 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 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
June 2020Thunderstorm WindWest Whately$40,000A 200-foot long tobacco barn, located where Long Plain Road becomes Straits Road, collapsed and was considered a complete loss from strong downburst winds, estimated around 70 mph. The barn had shifted toward the south during the storm, causing it to collapse. Damage also occurred to a dump truck and trailer that were inside the barn, which has recently been used for storage, instead of tobacco, according to a Greenfield Recorder article. Several other trees were downed near the location of the barn. In addition, amateur radio operators reported a tree down on Webber Road.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWest Whately$2,000At 553 PM EST, a tree and wires were reported down on Webber Road in Whately.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindWest Whately$1,000In Whately, a tree was down on Haydenville Road at Westbrook Road. Another tree was down on Interstate 91 southbound.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindWest Whately$500In Whately trees were downed on Weber and Haydenville Rd.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindWest Whately$500In the western part of Whately, a tree was down near the intersection of Haydenville Road and Webber Road. Time estimated by radar.
June 2024FloodWest Whately-In West Springfield, there was flooding on Piper Cross St.

Every storm recorded in Franklin 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
Whately11.9 miles42
East Whately12.5 miles42
Roaring Brook Camp14.5 miles42
Sunderland14.5 miles42
South Deerfield14.7 miles42
Pratt Corner14.9 miles35
Leverett Station14.9 miles42
Leverett15.7 miles42

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.

Wikidata item Q122598425The 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 608688. 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.