Primera, Texas
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1929 and the latest in 2002. It stands in the Harlingen-San Benito census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78552. The Survey maps it on the La Feria quadrangle. 5,257 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 43 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresPrimera grew from 4,070 to 5,257 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 | 4,070 | |
| 2020 | 5,257 | +1,187 (+29%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 13 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.
- 1929 USGS La Feria quadrangle1:24000
- 1936 USGS La Feria quadrangle1:31680, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Brownsville quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Brownsville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS La Feria quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Port Isabel quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Brownsville quadrangle1:250000
- 1992 USGS Harlingen quadrangle1:100000
- 2002 USGS La Feria quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
76 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 76 fires within 5 miles of Primera between 1993 and 2018, burning about 1,298 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 10 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/undetermined | 37 |
| Debris and open burning | 22 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 10 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | PRIMERA COMMAND |
| 13 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | WILCOX COMMAND |
| 1 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | PALOMA BLANCA COMMAND |
| 3 August 1993 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge | TIOCANO2 |
| 26 August 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | WILCOX COMMAND |
| 10 August 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 acres | Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge | RATLIFF |
| 5 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | WILSON COMMAND |
| 4 July 2005 | Debris and open burning | 35 acres | South Texas Refuge Complex | JULY 4TH |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
8 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Primera in 8 storm reports between 2001 and 2024: 3 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 tornado, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2018 | Flash Flood | Primera | $100,000 | Nearly four inches of rain fell in one hour in east Harlingen, causing varying amounts of flooding through the city. 2 to an estimated 3 feet of water piled up along some roads, including enough to flood an indoor garage at Harlingen/Valley International Airport. Damage amounts were unknown as most of the flooding was high water on roads, though some vehicles were inundated. |
| May 2021 | Flash Flood | Primera | $10,000 | Social media report received of a truck trapped in high water in the Harlingen area. Water depth was estimated to be around 3 feet. |
| September 2024 | Lightning | Primera | $5,400 | A resident of central Harlingen reported a direct lightning strike to the home. Approximate time is based on the report, which noted that the strike came just before torrential rains that were also reported at nearby Valley International Airport (2.4 miles to the east-northeast). Damage included roof and decking blown out and underlaying PVC pipe damage. No fire was reported. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Primera | - | The ASOS station at Valley International Airport (KHRL) gusted above 58 mph for at least 12 minutes from 7:19PM CDT until 7:31PM CDT. The strongest gust of 82 mph was recorded at 7:31PM CDT. |
| April 2017 | Hail | Primera | - | Golf ball size hail reported in north Harlingen at the intersection of 7th Street and Vinson. Hail from this particular storm caused an unknown amount of damage at auto dealerships along Interstate Highway 2, on the west side of Harlingen. Information will be updated as data are received. |
| April 2017 | Hail | Primera | - | NWS employee reports half dollar size hail on the north side of Harlingen. |
| April 2012 | Hail | Primera | - | Public reported nickel to quarter size hail across portions of Harlingen, from near Harlingen High School to the Treasure Hills area. |
| September 2001 | Tornado (F0) | Primera | - | Several weak landspout-type tornadoes formed along the leading of a stationary front. The tornadoes were weak, small, and short-lived, with none lasting more than five minutes. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Ranchitos Colonia | 0.9 miles | 13 | |
| Eggers Colonia | 1.6 miles | 13 | |
| Palm Valley | 1.7 miles | 13 | |
| Las Palmas Colonia | 1.7 miles | 13 | |
| Combes | 2.0 miles | 13 | |
| Combes Colonia | 2.1 miles | 13 | |
| Juarez Colonia | 2.1 miles | 13 | |
| Fred Adams Colonia | 2.2 miles | 13 |
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 Primera | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q972589 | 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 1344565. 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.








