Sabinal, Texas
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Sabinal census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78881. The Survey maps it on the Sabinal quadrangle. 1,364 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 958 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSabinal fell from 1,695 to 1,364 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 | 1,695 | |
| 2020 | 1,364 | -331 (-20%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 8 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.
- 1954 USGS San Antonio quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Sabinal quadrangle1:62500
- 1957 USGS San Antonio quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Sabinal quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Uvalde quadrangle1:100000
- 1992 USGS Uvalde quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
39 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 39 fires within 5 miles of Sabinal between 2005 and 2014, burning about 351 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| Smoking | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 12 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 September 2005 | Smoking | 3.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 21 July 2005 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 21 July 2005 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 14 July 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE @ C&W FUELS |
| 9 June 2011 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | TRAIN TRESSEL FIRE ON CR 319 |
| 28 June 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 21 June 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 16 |
| 31 May 2011 | Smoking | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE 4 MI EAST US HWY 90 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
41 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sabinal in 41 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 16 hail, 11 thunderstorm wind, 9 flash flood, 3 flood. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2018 | Flood | Sabinal | 1 killed | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that led to flooding of the Sabinal River. At Sabinal the river crested at 15.34 feet late on 10/9/18. Flood stage is 12 feet. It dropped below flood stage early on the 10th. A truck was washed away on RR 187 at a low water crossing that remained flooded south of Sabinal at 1:50 am Oct 12. A man in his 20s was killed and his body was found approximately one mile from the river crossing. |
| March 2002 | Hail | Sabinal | 1 hurt, $50,000 | A boy who had been bow-hunting outdoors was hit by the large hail. He was knocked unconscious, but recovered shortly after being taken to a hospital. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabinal | $50,000 | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 70 mph. A Cooperative Observer in Sabinal reported widespread thunderstorm wind damage including broken power poles, downed trees, damaged and destroyed outbuildings, and roof damage to homes. |
| October 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabinal | $50,000 | The damage in the Sabinal area was due to a combination of severe thunderstorm wind downburst followed very quickly by a tornado. The strong winds struck the town first, damaging roofs of mobile homes and buildings and knocking limbs out of trees. A few trees were uprooted. The wind gusts were estimated at 70 miles an hour. The wind damage path was essentially square-shaped, between 4 and 5 miles on each side, and oriented from southwest to northeast. Following the wind, heavy rain was reported, along with small hail. |
| October 2001 | Tornado (F0) | Sabinal | $30,000 | The severe thunderstorm ended quickly and a tornado was spotted at 840 pm CST by a trained Skywarn spotter. It was approximately 100 yards wide and occurred 5 miles north of Sabinal mostly in open country. It tracked for .5 miles toward the southeast, causing minor damage to two homes. It was rated F0 on the Fujita Scale. No injuries were reported. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabinal | $5,000 | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 70 mph that blew down a large tree in Sabinal. |
| May 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabinal | $5,000 | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 60 mph that blew down the top half of a large, healthy Pecan tree. |
| October 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabinal | $5,000 | County Sheriff's Office reported straight line winds in and near the town of Sabinal. Several trees were uprooted and large metal building was blown over. |
| April 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabinal | $1,000 | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 50 kts which broke numerous 5-6 inch diameter tree limbs on the east side of town. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabinal | - | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 65 mph that broke a large Hackberry tree in half in Sabinal. |
| July 2025 | Flood | Sabinal | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that led to flash flooding. One person died at RM 187 and the Frio River when their vehicle was submerged at a low water crossing. The Frio River levels rose due to heavy rainfall upstream on the 14th and 15th. |
| May 2022 | Hail | Sabinal | - | A thunderstorm produced ping pong ball size hail in Sabinal. |
| May 2021 | Flash Flood | Sabinal | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain of 6.59 inches in four hours that led to flash flooding. RR 187 along the Sabinal River was flooded south of Sabinal. |
| May 2021 | Flash Flood | Sabinal | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that led to flash flooding. TXDOT reported RR 187 was closed along the Sabinal River in southeastern Uvalde County. |
| April 2021 | Hail | Sabinal | - | A thunderstorm produced tennis ball size hail in Sabinal. |
| May 2019 | Hail | Sabinal | - | A thunderstorm produced golf ball size hail in Sabinal. |
| May 2019 | Hail | Sabinal | - | A thunderstorm produced two inch hail in Sabinal. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabinal | - | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 60 mph that knocked down a tree in Sabinal. |
| September 2018 | Flash Flood | Sabinal | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that led to flash flooding. Several roads around Sabinal were closed due to flooding along the Sabinal River including RM 187 and TX 127. |
| May 2017 | Flash Flood | Sabinal | - | Thunderstorms stalled over Uvalde County producing as much as 7.07 inches of rain in two hours south of Sabinal. This led to flash flooding closing RR187 at the Blanco Creek crossing. |
| April 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabinal | - | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts measured at 55 kts. This storm also produced one inch hail. |
| June 2016 | Flash Flood | Sabinal | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding closing RR 187 south of Sabinal. |
| May 2016 | Hail | Sabinal | - | A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail about a half mile north-northeast of Sabinal. |
| May 2016 | Flash Flood | Sabinal | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding closing several roads in and around Sabinal. |
| April 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabinal | - | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 70 mph that snapped a healthy three foot diameter Mesquite tree three feet above the ground. |
| April 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabinal | - | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 60 mph that snapped off numerous healthy four to eight inch diameter tree limbs. |
| May 2015 | Flash Flood | Sabinal | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding closing SH 127 from the City Park in Sabinal to the SH 127-187 fork north of town. |
| March 2013 | Hail | Sabinal | - | A thunderstorm produced hail that covered the ground. The largest was nickel size. |
| July 2007 | Flash Flood | Sabinal | - | Scattered thunderstorms produced general rain totals of 2 to 3 inches over Kinney, Uvalde, Zavala, Medina, and Frio Counties in the afternoon of July 3, with up to 4 inches in the southeast corner of Uvalde County. FM187 and FM140 were closed. |
| July 2007 | Flood | Sabinal | - | The Sabinal River at Sabinal crested at 27.1 ft on 07/21 at 1100cst, where flood stage is 12 ft. |
| August 2007 | Flash Flood | Sabinal | - | Showers and thunderstorms associated with Erin produced general 2 to 3 inch rain amounts over north and east Uvalde County. Highest totals were near 5 inches north of Sabinal toward the Bandera County line. Flash flooding closed FM187, FM1050, and SH127 through much of the evening. |
| March 2002 | Tornado (F0) | Sabinal | - | A small and short-lived tornado was observed near Sabinal by a law enforcement officer. Reports of the tornado were also called in by the public. It struck approximately 3 miles northwest of Sabinal and tracked toward the east northeast before dissipating. The tornado did not cause any significant damage. It was rated F0 on the Fujita Scale. |
| April 2016 | Hail | Sabinal | - | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Hail | Sabinal | - | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Hail | Sabinal | - | no account filed |
| March 2013 | Hail | Sabinal | - | no account filed |
| March 2013 | Hail | Sabinal | - | no account filed |
| April 2010 | Hail | Sabinal | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Sabinal | - | no account filed |
| February 1998 | Hail | Sabinal | - | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Hail | Sabinal | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trio | 7.6 miles | 11 | |
| Knippa | 9.2 miles | 11 | |
| Long Crossing | 12.2 miles | 11 | |
| First Crossing | 17.8 miles | 12 | |
| Concan | 17.9 miles | 12 | |
| Vanham Addition Colonia | 18.2 miles | 12 | |
| Second Crossing | 18.3 miles | 8 | |
| Brice Lane Colonia | 18.5 miles | 12 |
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 Sabinal | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q977988 | 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 1367078. 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.





