Desert, Texas
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Blue Ridge census division. It lies in ZIP code area 75409. The Survey maps it on the Pilot Grove quadrangle. It stands 702 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 7 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.
- 1954 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Pilot Grove quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS McKinney quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
114 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 114 fires within 5 miles of Desert between 2005 and 2020, burning about 2,001 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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 burning | 47 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 18 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 160 FIRE |
| 4 September 2005 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 3 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 150 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | HAY TRAILER BLOW OUT |
| 23 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 12080853 |
| 10 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | HWY 121 GRASS FIRE |
| 10 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 12077072 |
| 9 August 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | FROGKNOT NORTH BRANCH - 111 |
| 9 August 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
7 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Desert in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 5 hail, 1 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2009 | Flood | Desert | $20,000 | Several roads were closed in the Nevada, Josephine, and Blue Ridge areas due to flooding. These roads were: CR 590@PR 5337; CR 638@FM 1777; Milton Street in Josephine; CRs 484, 504, 637, 668, 825, and 1216, and SH 1216. Barricades were installed at all of these locations. In addition, the bridge support of SH 5 at the East Fork of the Trinity River in McKinney was being washed out and the bridge had to closed for a few months. The flooding was the result of several hours of rainfall on ground that was already well saturated. |
| May 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Desert | $250 | Several large trees were damaged or uprooted on a property in far northeast Anna/Westminster. A shed was also damaged. |
| March 2024 | Hail | Desert | - | Report from mPING: Half Dollar (1.25 in.). |
| August 2020 | Hail | Desert | - | A public report indicated ping-pong ball sized hail in the city of Westminster, TX. |
| August 2020 | Hail | Desert | - | A public report indicated half-dollar sized hail in the city of Westminster, TX. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Desert | - | Trained Spotter reported quarter size hail near Westminster. |
| May 1998 | Hail | Desert | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westminster | 3.6 miles | 7 | |
| Sedalia | 4.1 miles | 7 | |
| Blue Ridge | 6.2 miles | 7 | |
| Frognot | 6.3 miles | 7 | |
| Pike | 6.9 miles | 7 | |
| Valdasta | 7.5 miles | 7 | |
| Chambliss | 8.1 miles | 7 | |
| Anna | 8.2 miles | 8 |
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 Desert | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q22076459 | 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 1355937. 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.



