Merle, Texas
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1914 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Old River census division. It lies in ZIP code area 77879. The Survey maps it on the Snook quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 9 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.
- 1914 USGS Gay Hill quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Austin quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Snook quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1993 USGS Brenham quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
173 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 173 fires within 5 miles of Merle between 1998 and 2020, burning about 1,552 acres in total. 2 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 | 109 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 16 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Smoking | 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 2019 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 9 September 2019 | Natural | 1.5 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | SNOOK MUTUAL AID |
| 7 September 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | CR 201 |
| 6 September 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | SNOOK MUTUAL AID |
| 5 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BURN BAN VIOLATION |
| 5 September 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 1962 |
| 30 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 10231 FM.1361 |
| 30 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 3121 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
5 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Merle in 5 storm reports between 2009 and 2020: 4 hail, 1 lightning. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2013 | Lightning | Merle | $5,000 | A lightning strike caused a structural fire near the intersection of CR 278 and FM 1361. |
| April 2020 | Hail | Merle | - | There was penny to quarter size hail near the intersection of Highway 60 and FM 3058. |
| March 2018 | Hail | Merle | - | Quarter to golf ball sized hail was observed. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Merle | - | Quarter sized hail was reported. |
| April 2009 | Hail | Merle | - | Nickel sized hail was observed along FM 60 between Lyons and Snook. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snook | 2.7 miles | 9 | |
| Center Line | 4.3 miles | 8 | |
| Wilcox | 4.4 miles | 9 | |
| Beaver Creek | 5.3 miles | 8 | |
| Chances Store | 6.3 miles | 11 | |
| Scofield | 6.7 miles | 10 | |
| Lyons | 6.9 miles | 8 | |
| Tunis | 7.4 miles | 8 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1380181. 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.



