BlockBefore

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.

Desert within Collin County

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 7 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

114 since 2005

Regional 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 burning47
Missing data/not specified/undetermined40
Equipment and vehicle use18
Smoking3
Arson/incendiarism2
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Fireworks1

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
9 September 2011Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service160 FIRE
4 September 2005Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
3 September 2011Equipment and vehicle use150 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceHAY TRAILER BLOW OUT
23 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Service12080853
10 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceHWY 121 GRASS FIRE
10 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Service12077072
9 August 2008Equipment and vehicle use35 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceFROGKNOT NORTH BRANCH - 111
9 August 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Collin County

Storms near this place

7 since 1998

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
November 2009FloodDesert$20,000Several 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 2021Thunderstorm WindDesert$250Several large trees were damaged or uprooted on a property in far northeast Anna/Westminster. A shed was also damaged.
March 2024HailDesert-Report from mPING: Half Dollar (1.25 in.).
August 2020HailDesert-A public report indicated ping-pong ball sized hail in the city of Westminster, TX.
August 2020HailDesert-A public report indicated half-dollar sized hail in the city of Westminster, TX.
June 2019HailDesert-Trained Spotter reported quarter size hail near Westminster.
May 1998HailDesert-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Collin 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
Westminster3.6 miles7
Sedalia4.1 miles7
Blue Ridge6.2 miles7
Frognot6.3 miles7
Pike6.9 miles7
Valdasta7.5 miles7
Chambliss8.1 miles7
Anna8.2 miles8

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 DesertAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q22076459The 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.