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Big Wells, Texas

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1939 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Big Wells census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78830. It stands on GalvaneƱo Creek. The Survey maps it on the Big Wells quadrangle. 483 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 538 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Big Wells within Dimmit County

Population over time

2 figures

Big Wells fell from 697 to 483 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
2010697
2020483-214 (-31%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 8 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

17 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Big Wells between 2005 and 2016, burning about 1,380 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/undetermined11
Debris and open burning2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Arson/incendiarism1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
19 July 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
11 July 2005Equipment and vehicle use90 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
3 June 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
9 March 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
5 March 2008Arson/incendiarism400 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceROCKIN ROBIN
30 March 2009Equipment and vehicle use15 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceBUACH RANCH ON HWY 85 EAST
23 March 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined30 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
1 March 2009Power generation/transmission/distribution300 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceSUGAR RANCH

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Dimmit County

Storms near this place

20 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Big Wells in 20 storm reports between 1994 and 2021: 13 hail, 3 flash flood, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud. 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 1994Thunderstorm WindBig Wells$50,000,Gusts from the thunderstorm blew over numerous trees. Nearly 2 inches of rain fell with the storm.
May 1994HailBig Wells$5,000no account filed
May 2021FloodBig Wells-Heavy rain flooded a yard near Big Wells.
April 2015HailBig Wells-Public report of hail larger than golf balls just outside of Big Wells via Twitter.
October 2013Flash FloodBig Wells-Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding in Big Wells and Carrizo Springs. Parts of Highway 85 were covered with water and closed due to needed repair. Some homes in Carrizo Springs were flooded up to the window sills. A co-op observer in Carrizo Springs reported 10.65 inches and a co-op observer in Big Wells reported 9.50 inches.
May 2012Funnel CloudBig Wells-A thunderstorm produced a funnel cloud north of Big Wells.
May 2007Flash FloodBig Wells-Scattered showers and thunderstorms produced general 1 to 3 inch rain amounts in northern Dimmit County with up to 5 inches between Big Wells and Asherton. FM468, FM1019, and FM1558, among many others, were closed due to flash flooding.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindBig Wells-A co-operative observer reported trees knocked over and one car port blown away by high winds.
October 2005Flash FloodBig Wells-Late morning thunderstorms over northeast Dimmit County produced between 3 and 4 inches of rain in the Big Wells area. FM1019 and FM468 were closed briefly southeast of Big Wells due to flash flooding.
April 2016HailBig Wells-no account filed
March 2016HailBig Wells-no account filed
March 2013HailBig Wells-no account filed
April 2013HailBig Wells-no account filed
May 2012HailBig Wells-no account filed
May 2012HailBig Wells-no account filed
April 2007HailBig Wells-no account filed
May 2006HailBig Wells-no account filed
May 2006HailBig Wells-no account filed
April 2004HailBig Wells-no account filed
April 2003HailBig Wells-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Dimmit 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
Las Vegas4.5 miles8
Brundage5.3 miles8
Valley Wells7.1 miles13
Asherton13.6 miles10
Espantosa Colonia14.5 miles10
Carrizo Hill14.6 miles9
Carrizo Hills Colonia14.7 miles9
Winter Haven15.6 miles9

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 Big WellsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q976013The 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 1352178. 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.