Palo Pinto, Texas
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Palo Pinto-Santo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 76484. The Survey maps it on the Palo Pinto quadrangle. 276 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,076 feet above sea level.
On record in Palo Pinto
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
Palo Pinto County Courthouselisted 1997
Palo Pinto County Jaillisted 1979
Population over time
2 figuresPalo Pinto fell from 333 to 276 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 333 | |
| 2020 | 276 | -57 (-17%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 18 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.
- 1891 USGS Palo Pinto quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1918 USGS Palo Pinto quadrangle1:125000
- 1927 USGS Pickwick quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Abilene quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Abilene quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Palo Pinto quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Palo Pinto quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Mineral Wells quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
127 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 127 fires within 5 miles of Palo Pinto between 2006 and 2020, burning about 9,231 acres in total. 12 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 68 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 21 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 |
| Natural | 12 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 2009 | Debris and open burning | 25 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 101 BRUSH |
| 7 September 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | CARTER |
| 5 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | THISTLE DEW |
| 27 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 13 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | VICTORY |
| 27 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | SPLIT ROCK |
| 27 September 2008 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 24 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 24 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 30 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
49 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Palo Pinto in 49 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 35 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2015 | Hail | Palo Pinto | $10,000 | Numerous reports of golfball sized hail along Highway 180 in Palo Pinto. |
| March 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palo Pinto | $5,000 | Trees one foot in diameter were blown down near Lone Camp. |
| April 2015 | Hail | Palo Pinto | $4,000 | Golf ball sized hail was reported on Highway 180 just west of Palo Pinto. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | Report from mPING of ping pong ball-sized hail. |
| March 2023 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | Quarter size hail was reported in the community of Palo Pinto. |
| May 2023 | Tornado (EF1) | Palo Pinto | - | Severe thunderstorms tracked across Palo Pinto County on the evening of May 11th, with one supercell producing a brief EF-1 tornado with maximum winds around 90 mph. The tornado began on a private ranch south of Highway 180. Most of the damage consisted of uprooted trees, with large tree limbs also found across the area. A snapped and twisted tree trunk was found near the start of the track. As the tornado tracked northwest toward Highway 180, similar damage was found to trees along the highway, in addition to damage to an adjacent metal fence along the right of way. The end of the tornado was determined by radar due to inaccessible areas north of Highway 180 near Ro Bell Road. |
| May 2018 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | Palo Pinto County Sheriff's Department reported nickel sized hail in the city of Palo Pinto. |
| May 2015 | Tornado (EF0) | Palo Pinto | - | Trained spotters observed a tornado northeast of Palo Pinto. The tornado produced a batch of severe tree damage over open ranch land. |
| April 2011 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | Quarter size hail was reported on the west side of Palo Pinto. |
| March 2008 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | Quarter-size hail was reported on the east side of Possum Kingdom Lake. |
| August 2008 | Flash Flood | Palo Pinto | - | Flooding was reported between the towns of Palo Pinto and Mineral Wells. |
| June 2007 | Flood | Palo Pinto | - | Portions of Highway 29 were closed near the Brazos River. Also, Highway 4 near Buck Creek was closed. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palo Pinto | - | Trees blown down across Highway 16 near Possum Kingdom Dam. |
| December 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palo Pinto | - | Large tree limbs were blown down. |
| April 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palo Pinto | - | 4 inch diameter tree limbs blown down. |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palo Pinto | - | Occurred at Lake Palo Pinto. |
| May 2004 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | Occurred at Lake Palo Pinto. |
| June 2004 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | Occurred at Lone Camp. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palo Pinto | - | Large tree limbs wereblown down at the Worth Ranch. |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palo Pinto | - | A large tree was blown down. |
| April 1995 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | A brief tornado touchdown was reported. |
| April 1995 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | A brief tornado touchdown was reported. |
| April 1995 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | A brief tornado touchdown was reported. |
| April 1995 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | A brief tornado touchdown was reported. |
| May 2006 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| April 2000 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| April 2000 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| October 1998 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| October 1998 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| February 1997 | Flash Flood | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| February 1997 | Flash Flood | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| February 1997 | Flash Flood | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| October 1996 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| April 1994 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| October 1993 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | no account filed |
| October 1993 | Hail | Palo Pinto | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lone Camp | 6.3 miles | 16 | |
| Coronados Camp | 7.3 miles | 19 | |
| Metcalf Gap | 8.5 miles | 16 | |
| Mineral Wells | 10.2 miles | 18 | |
| Brad | 11.1 miles | 16 | |
| Brazos | 11.9 miles | 20 | |
| Graford | 12.1 miles | 19 | |
| Santo | 12.2 miles | 21 |
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 Palo Pinto | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q976713 | 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 1343494. 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.







