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
Population over time
2 figuresBig 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 697 | |
| 2020 | 483 | -214 (-31%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 8 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.
- 1939 USGS Big Wells quadrangle1:62500
- 1953 USGS Crystal City quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Crystal City quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Crystal City quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Crystal City quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Big Wells quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Crystal City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
17 since 2005Regional 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/undetermined | 11 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 July 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 11 July 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 90 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 3 June 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 9 March 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 5 March 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | ROCKIN ROBIN |
| 30 March 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BUACH RANCH ON HWY 85 EAST |
| 23 March 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 1 March 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 300 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | SUGAR RANCH |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
20 since 1994Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Wells | $50,000 | ,Gusts from the thunderstorm blew over numerous trees. Nearly 2 inches of rain fell with the storm. |
| May 1994 | Hail | Big Wells | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2021 | Flood | Big Wells | - | Heavy rain flooded a yard near Big Wells. |
| April 2015 | Hail | Big Wells | - | Public report of hail larger than golf balls just outside of Big Wells via Twitter. |
| October 2013 | Flash Flood | Big 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 2012 | Funnel Cloud | Big Wells | - | A thunderstorm produced a funnel cloud north of Big Wells. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Big 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 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Wells | - | A co-operative observer reported trees knocked over and one car port blown away by high winds. |
| October 2005 | Flash Flood | Big 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 2016 | Hail | Big Wells | - | no account filed |
| March 2016 | Hail | Big Wells | - | no account filed |
| March 2013 | Hail | Big Wells | - | no account filed |
| April 2013 | Hail | Big Wells | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Big Wells | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Big Wells | - | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Hail | Big Wells | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Big Wells | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Big Wells | - | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Hail | Big Wells | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Big Wells | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas | 4.5 miles | 8 | |
| Brundage | 5.3 miles | 8 | |
| Valley Wells | 7.1 miles | 13 | |
| Asherton | 13.6 miles | 10 | |
| Espantosa Colonia | 14.5 miles | 10 | |
| Carrizo Hill | 14.6 miles | 9 | |
| Carrizo Hills Colonia | 14.7 miles | 9 | |
| Winter Haven | 15.6 miles | 9 |
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 Wells | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q976013 | 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 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.






