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Buffalo Gap, Texas

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Jim Ned census division. It lies in ZIP code area 79508. The Survey maps it on the Buffalo Gap quadrangle. 543 people lived here at the 2020 count.

Buffalo Gap within Taylor County

On record in Buffalo Gap

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

3 figures

Buffalo Gap grew from 463 to 543 between 2000 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
2000463
2010464+1 (+0%)
2020543+79 (+17%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 15 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

212 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 212 fires within 5 miles of Buffalo Gap between 2003 and 2020, burning about 1,994 acres in total. 9 started naturally. 7 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
Debris and open burning76
Missing data/not specified/undetermined55
Equipment and vehicle use32
Power generation/transmission/distribution21
Natural9
Arson/incendiarism7
Smoking6
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Recreation and ceremony3

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
8 September 2007Debris and open burningunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
4 September 2009Debris and open burning5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service2800 BLK FM 89 W
27 September 2009Debris and open burning10 acresTexas A & M Forest Service1226 CR 150
25 September 2012Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCR 150 & CR 676
2 September 2009Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service1452 WARREN ST
19 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
17 September 2008Debris and open burning5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
13 September 2011Natural10 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceHWY & BUCHEE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Taylor County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Buffalo Gap: 2 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Copper. 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
Abilene Lake-1CopperOccurrence1918
Buffalo Gap-1CopperOccurrence1891

Every working recorded in Taylor County

Storms near this place

43 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buffalo Gap in 43 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 26 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 3 tornado. 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
May 2008Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Gap$60,000Several power poles were reported snapped near Buffalo Gap. Also, a roof was blown off a home and trees were uprooted.
May 2007Flash FloodBuffalo Gap$15,000Heavy rains from a slow moving thunderstorm fell on Buffalo Gap in southern Taylor County. This caused quite a bit of localized flooding in and around Buffalo Gap and Tuscola.
June 1997Flash FloodBuffalo Gap$15,000no account filed
April 2008Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Gap$5,000A couple of power lines and trees were knocked down by the damaging thunderstorm winds.
April 1998Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Gap$2,000no account filed
March 2026HailBuffalo Gap-Public report of ping pong ball sized hail on social media.
March 2026HailBuffalo Gap-A trained spotter reported quarter size hail with around 50 mph winds out of Buffalo Gap.
March 2026HailBuffalo Gap-A trained spotter reported golf ball sized hail.
March 2026HailBuffalo Gap-Media reported baseball sized hail over Buffalo Gap.
April 2025HailBuffalo Gap-Public reported quarter size hail.
April 2025HailBuffalo Gap-Public reported quarter size hail.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Gap-There were many 4-6 inch diameter tree limbs blown down.
April 2019Flash FloodBuffalo Gap-A video on Twitter showed swift moving water of an unknown depth covering a road near Rock Ranch Road and FM 89, near Tuscola.
September 2018FloodBuffalo Gap-Flooded low water crossing on County Road 150 west of U.S. Highways 83 and 84.
April 2016Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Gap-A trained spotter reported a thunderstorm wind gust of 70 mph about 1/2 mile west of Buffalo Gap.
May 2016Flash FloodBuffalo Gap-Flooding was reported along parts of FM 89 in Taylor County. The water level was one foot over the road in the vicinity of Lake Abilene State Park. Abilene State Park was evacuated. Water was over a part of U.S. Highway 83 and 84 south of Abilene in Central Taylor County.
April 2014HailBuffalo Gap-A trained spotter reported numerous nickel size hail and tree limbs down.
May 2012HailBuffalo Gap-Golf ball size hail was reported at Abilene State Park.
March 2008HailBuffalo Gap-Quarter size hail was reported near Highway 89.
May 2007Flash FloodBuffalo Gap-Law Enforcement Officials reported County Road 151 was impassable due to flooding in Buffalo Gap.
May 2002Tornado (F0)Buffalo Gap-Spotter reported a brief tornado near F.M. 89 and Arrowhead Ranch Road.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Gap-A spotter estimated winds at 60 mph.
May 1999HailBuffalo Gap-Hail up to the size of tennis balls falling in southern Taylor County.
May 1999Tornado (F0)Buffalo Gap-A tornado touched down briefly near Buffalo Gap in southern Taylor County.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Gap-Winds gusting to 60 mph reported in southern Taylor County.
June 2019HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
June 2019HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
May 2016HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
May 2013HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
June 2009HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
June 2009HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
March 2008HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
June 2007HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
May 2006HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
June 2006HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
May 2005HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
June 2002HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
March 2001HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
May 1999HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
August 1997Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Gap-no account filed
August 1997HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed
June 1997Tornado (F0)Buffalo Gap-no account filed
May 1995HailBuffalo Gap-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Taylor 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
Tuscola5.1 miles12
View5.3 miles15
Caps6.5 miles15
Wylie7.1 miles15
Ovalo7.4 miles12
Potosi9.8 miles14
Cozart10.2 miles15
Rogers10.6 miles13

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 Buffalo GapAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q979870The 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 1331572. 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.