Alvarado, Texas
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Alvarado census division. It lies in ZIP code area 76009. The Survey maps it on the Alvarado quadrangle. 4,739 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 764 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresAlvarado grew from 3,785 to 4,739 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 | 3,785 | |
| 2020 | 4,739 | +954 (+25%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 16 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.
- 1891 USGS Cleburne quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Cleburne quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1954 USGS Dallas quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Dallas quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Alvarado quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Cleburne quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
87 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 87 fires within 5 miles of Alvarado between 2005 and 2011, burning about 205 acres in total. None 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 | 51 |
| Debris and open burning | 28 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 2 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 7 August 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 5.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | CR 401 |
| 7 August 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 6 August 2006 | Debris and open burning | 13 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 4 August 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 4 August 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 30 August 2009 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 09-000365 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Alvarado: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rayburn Sand Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica | Producer |
Storms near this place
51 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alvarado in 51 storm reports between 1993 and 2023: 22 hail, 18 thunderstorm wind, 6 flash flood, 5 tornado. The reports record 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2011 | Tornado (EF1) | Alvarado | 2 hurt, $100,000 | There was a brief tornado touchdown in the city of Alvarado, just southwest of the intersection of Interstate 35W and Highway 67. A mobile home was overturned resulting in 2 minor injuries. The Equine Vet Building and 4 other commercial buildings sustained damage. This tornado has been rated an EF-1 with estimated maximum wind speeds of 90 mph. |
| May 2001 | Tornado (F1) | Alvarado | 1 hurt, $100,000 | A tornado touched down 2 miles southeast of Alvarado and moved northeast 2.8 miles then lifting 3 miles east of Alvarado. One person sustained head injuries from flying debris. Two mobile homes were destroyed and one heavily damaged, a house was unroofed, a workshop was destroyed, and numerous trees and power lines were blown down |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | 1 hurt, $80,000 | Three mobile homes were destroyed by high winds in the Lillian area near the intersection of FM 917 and CR 2738. One person was injured. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $300,000 | Straight-line winds resulted in the collapse of a wall of the Medicine Chest Pharmacy in Alvarado near North Cummings Dr. and Highway 67. Straight-line winds also damaged signs, power poles, and a bank drive-through in the same general area. A light pole was knocked down at Charles Head Stadium, a field goal post was bent, and the track was damaged at the facilities. The American Red Cross reported that 38 homes were damaged in Alvarado and three of these homes were destroyed. |
| May 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $200,000 | Six air conditioning units were blown from the roof of an elementary school, causing extensive damage to gas and electrical lines as well as the roof itself. At a nearby high school, a tree was blown down and several windows were blown out. Sheet metal was also blown loose. A roof was blown off of an apartment building, and a sign was bent at a nearby auto dealership. A few manufactured homes northeast of town lost roofs, walls, shingles, and suffered water damage. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $100,000 | Emergency management reported shingle damage on multiple homes across several neighborhoods on the north side of Alvarado. Additional reports of fence damage was also received. The swath of scattered wind damage extended to the northwest of Venus, south of the path of a tornado and likely associated with strong winds in the RFD. |
| September 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $50,000 | Report of a roof removed from a home in Alvarado. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $50,000 | There were numerous reports of trees, power lines, and buildings blown down by high winds. |
| August 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $50,000 | Storage buildings, trees, and power lines were blown down. |
| December 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Alvarado | $40,000 | The National Weather Service in Fort Worth conducted a damage survey and found that a tornado formed about 3 miles north of Alvarado. The tornado damaged a shed and caused roof and window damage to several structures along CR 604, east of the Happy Hill community, before dissipating. |
| April 2005 | Hail | Alvarado | $25,000 | Quarter size hail damaged area roofs and vehicles. Several homeowners reported losses. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $20,000 | Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down in Alvarado. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $20,000 | Minor roof damage was reported at the Longhorn Grill on Parkway Ave. A 30 foot section of the metal roof was peeled off and water damage was reported to the inside of the building. |
| May 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $15,000 | Roof and structural damage to metal roofing; mailboxes blown over. |
| January 2017 | Flash Flood | Alvarado | $10,000 | Northbound 35W closed at HWY 67 due to flooding. Several cars stuck in high water. |
| August 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $10,000 | Wind removed the roof from a house. |
| May 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $10,000 | A garage was destroyed by high winds. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $5,000 | Sixty mph winds were estimated in Alvarado. |
| April 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $3,000 | A sheet metal roof of a fast food restaurant was blown off. Some trees were blown down as well. |
| August 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | $2,000 | A barn was blown down by high winds. |
| April 2017 | Hail | Alvarado | $1,000 | Quarter size hail reported in Alvarado. |
| October 2015 | Flash Flood | Alvarado | $1,000 | Several county roads were closed due to water including: CR 423, CR 607 at the bridge, and CR 509. |
| April 2023 | Hail | Alvarado | - | Emergency management reported quarter sized hail 1 mile south of Alvarado, TX. |
| August 2022 | Flash Flood | Alvarado | - | Texas DPS reported that northbound lanes of Interstate 35W near the intersection of Highway 67 were closed due to high water. |
| March 2018 | Hail | Alvarado | - | Dime to penny sized hail was reported by a broadcast meteorologist near the city of Alvarado, TX. |
| January 2017 | Hail | Alvarado | - | Trained spotter reports 1 inch hail at the intersection of CR 607 and CR 917. |
| January 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | - | A trained spotter located in Alvarado reported a 70 mph wind gust. |
| April 2017 | Hail | Alvarado | - | A public report indicated ping pong ball sized hail at Alvarado Junior High School. |
| April 2016 | Flash Flood | Alvarado | - | CR 509 between CRs 505 and 508 was closed due to flooding. |
| May 2015 | Flash Flood | Alvarado | - | Broadcast media reported that widespread flooding was occurring across the eastern part of the county; especially along HWY 157. |
| February 2013 | Hail | Alvarado | - | Nickel sized hail was reported in Alvarado. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | - | Measured from a school's weather-net observation. |
| April 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Alvarado | - | Tornado touched down briefly. No damage reported. |
| April 2005 | Hail | Alvarado | - | Three inch deep hail covering the ground, ranging from pea to quarter size. |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alvarado | - | State trooper on Interstate 35 near Alvarado reported wind gusts to 80 mph. |
| December 1997 | Flash Flood | Alvarado | - | Numerous roads across the eastern portion of the county remained closed due to high water. |
| April 1994 | Tornado (F0) | Alvarado | - | A brief tornado touchdown was reported just west of Alvarado. |
| May 2008 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| March 1999 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| April 1999 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| March 1995 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| May 1994 | Hail | Alvarado | - | no account filed |
| May 1993 | Hail | Alvarado | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Happy Hill | 4.5 miles | 16 | |
| Pleasant Point | 5.5 miles | 16 | |
| Egan | 5.7 miles | 16 | |
| The Homesteads | 5.7 miles | 16 | |
| Keene | 6.0 miles | 16 | |
| Venus | 6.1 miles | 17 | |
| Antioch | 6.5 miles | 15 | |
| Marystown | 6.8 miles | 16 |
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 Alvarado | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q448358 | 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 1329475. 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.





