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Karnes City, Texas

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Karnes City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78118. The Survey maps it on the Karnes City quadrangle. 3,111 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 430 feet above sea level.

Karnes City within Karnes County

On record in Karnes City

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Karnes City grew from 3,042 to 3,111 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
20103,042
20203,111+69 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 9 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

170 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 170 fires within 5 miles of Karnes City between 2005 and 2020, burning about 472 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 3 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined54
Equipment and vehicle use50
Debris and open burning45
Smoking7
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Arson/incendiarism3
Natural2

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
4 September 2008Equipment and vehicle use10 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
4 September 2008Debris and open burning20 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
26 September 2006Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
24 September 2017Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCOLE ORSZULAK
22 September 2006Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
18 September 2014Debris and open burning3.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceBILL CAMPBELL
12 September 2013Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceMARATHON FM99-2
10 September 2006Debris and open burning10 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Karnes County

Storms near this place

22 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Karnes City in 22 storm reports between 1993 and 2023: 7 hail, 6 flash flood, 5 thunderstorm wind, 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
November 2001Tornado (F1)Karnes City$120,000A second and more intense Karnes County tornado touched down west of Karnes City near the Wilson County line. Rated F1, it destroyed a trailer, a metal barn, and literally hundreds of trees as it moved northeast for just over two miles.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindKarnes City$80,000no account filed
April 1997Thunderstorm WindKarnes City$20,000Severe winds blew over a shed and knocked over trees between Karnes City and Panna Maria.
May 1997Thunderstorm WindKarnes City$10,000Severe winds damaged a mobile home near Karnes City.
April 1995HailKarnes City$3,000Hail up to the size of quarters covered the ground around Karnes City, causing extensive damage to corn crops in the area. A few homes had windows broken due to the hail.
October 1994Tornado (F0)Karnes City$2,000Damage to a fence and some trees due to a tornado were reported by Sheriffs Department.
May 2023Flash FloodKarnes City-Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that led to flash flooding. TXDoT reported FM 1353 was flooded south of Karnes City.
May 2015Flash FloodKarnes City-Highway 181 south of farm to market road 1144 in Karnes City was closed due to water over the roadway.
May 2014Flash FloodKarnes City-Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding in Karnes County. The roads were closed at the intersection of FM 99 and US 181 on the west side of Karnes City, and farther northeast FM 792 at TX 80 was closed near the San Antonio River.
May 2014Flash FloodKarnes City-Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding closing County Road 1353 south of Karnes City.
May 2013Funnel CloudKarnes City-A thunderstorm produced a funnel cloud.
March 2012Flash FloodKarnes City-Slow moving thunderstorms produced heavy rain which caused flash flooding and closed Highway 181 at Calvert Avenue in Karnes City.
January 2011Thunderstorm WindKarnes City-A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 60 mph which caused damage in and around Karnes City and Kenedy. The Karnes County emergency manager reported trees toppled over and roofs blown off carports.
July 2004Flash FloodKarnes City-Between 1 and 3 inches of rain fell between Karnes City and Kenedy in the late evening. Flash flooding closed parts of FM99 and FM792 just before midnight.
November 2001Tornado (F0)Karnes City-A small tornado, rated F0, touched down briefly in an open area near Karnes City. No damage was indicated.
April 1995Thunderstorm WindKarnes City-Strong winds blew down tree limbs and knocked out power lines.
April 1993HailKarnes City-The Department of Public Safety reported golf ball-size hail in Karnes City.
March 2007HailKarnes City-no account filed
November 2004HailKarnes City-no account filed
March 2000HailKarnes City-no account filed
February 1998HailKarnes City-no account filed
February 1998HailKarnes City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Karnes 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
Mayo1.8 miles9
Panna Maria5.1 miles9
Kenedy5.3 miles9
Helena6.3 miles9
Hobson6.7 miles9
Lenz7.7 miles8
Coy City8.5 miles11
Cestohowa8.8 miles10

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 Karnes CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q427602The 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 1360493. 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.