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San Perlita, Texas

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1921 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the San Perlita census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78590. The Survey maps it on the San Perlita North quadrangle. 538 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 20 feet above sea level.

San Perlita within Willacy County

Population over time

3 figures

San Perlita fell from 680 to 538 between 2000 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
2000680
2010573-107 (-16%)
2020538-35 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 12 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

4 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of San Perlita between 2009 and 2017, burning about 133 acres in total. None 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
Arson/incendiarism2
Debris and open burning1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
2 April 2009Equipment and vehicle use10 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceFARM EQUIPMENT FIRE
7 November 2017Debris and open burning83 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGONZALES RANCH
3 January 2011Arson/incendiarism30 acresTexas A & M Forest Service1 MILE WEST ON 2845
13 January 2011Arson/incendiarism10 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceEL MANALDO

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Willacy County

Storms near this place

16 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names San Perlita in 16 storm reports between 1999 and 2023: 5 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 2 flash flood. 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
April 2020Thunderstorm WindSan Perlita$30,000A mini-supercell thunderstorm rolled through central and southeastern Willacy County a little more than an hour after sunrise, and produced damaging winds near San Perlita and on nearby ranches around 830 AM CDT. One residence in San Perlita, fully exposed to the northwest, sustained significant damage when its poorly constructed roof lifted off. The residence was a mobile home with a separate addition on a pier/block foundation. Nearby damage was noted along an 5.28 mile stretch of State Highway 186, with more than a dozen wooden power poles broken, uprooted, or leaning. Nearly all of the broken poles showed notable rot at the breakpoint, and others were only anchored in shallow soil. In total, county Emergency Management mentioned a total of 26 poles were damaged. The survey revealed a range of estimated wind speeds from 61 to 70 mph.
September 2015Thunderstorm WindSan Perlita$3,000Willacy County Emergency Manager reported two power poles down and two power poles damaged along Highway 186 near the wind turbine farm west of San Perlita.
August 2023Tornado (EFU)San Perlita-A member of the media shared video of a well defined landspout just north of TX-186 west of San Perlita around 2:50PM CDT on August 15th. The commenter said it lasted around 5 minutes. Radar was used to give a more precise location and time. Dust and dirt were clearly lifted into the air in the video around the landspout. No damage or injuries were observed or reported.
April 2016HailSan Perlita-Police officer reported golfball sized hail in the city of San Perlita.
October 2012HailSan Perlita-Nickel to quarter sized hail fell in San Perlita. Event time based on radar.
October 2012Thunderstorm WindSan Perlita-A meteorologist from the U.S. National Weather Service in Brownsville surveyed the damage, which occurred in and around the San Perlita area. The damage was found to be the result of damaging straight line winds, with wind speeds estimated between 70 and 80 mph.||Damage appeared to initially occur to the roof of a mobile home in the northwestern part of San Perlita. At this location, roofing material was removed and blown toward the southeast. As the severe thunderstorm moved southward, additional small tree limbs and branches were blown down across the city. An additional damage area was noted near the San Perlita ISD complex, where interviews with ISD officials indicated a poorly attached door was removed to the district's bus barn. High winds also uprooted an oak tree on school property, which resulted in damage to a chain link fence. No further wind damage was noted south of this location.
May 2011HailSan Perlita-A spotter reported penny size hail fell for approximately 3 or 4 minutes east of San Perlita near the intersection of FM 3142 and Highway 186.
June 2010Heavy RainSan Perlita-Cooperative observers and adjusted radar rainfall estimates suggested between 6 and 8 inches of rain fell across northeast and central Willacy County associated with feeder bands from Hurricane Alex, mostly on June 30th. As of this writing, no significant flash flooding was reported, but heavy rains caused local minor urban-type and field flooding which continued into July 1st.
June 2009HailSan Perlita-A trained spotter reported hail up to golf ball size in diameter during a thunderstorm which moved north between Raymondville and Perlita during the afternoon of June first.
September 2009Tornado (EF0)San Perlita-KRGV Television station reported that the public had reported a brief touchdown of a tornado near the town of Willamar. No damage was reported and there werent any homes in the area.
May 2007Flash FloodSan Perlita-Willacy County Sheriff's Office reported water covering the intersection of Highway 186 and Farm to Market Road 1420 in San Perlita.
November 2002Flash FloodSan Perlita-Heavy rains and runoff produced flash flooding and ponding of water in San Perlita. The flooding affected farmlands, homes and roads.
May 2002Thunderstorm WindSan Perlita-A trained storm spotter estimated wind gusts between 65 and 70 mph in San Perlita
June 2001Tornado (F0)San Perlita-A law enforcement official (trained in storm spotting) from the Willacy County Sheriff's Department reported a tornado touchdown near San Perlita, at the intersection of FM 1420 and Highway 186.
July 2000Thunderstorm WindSan Perlita-A farmer estimated strong winds gusting to near 60 mph. These high winds damaged some of his cotton crop and removed tied tarps from some of the cotton bales.
April 1999HailSan Perlita-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Willacy 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
Willamar3.3 miles9
Benitez Colonia6.9 miles13
Lisa Colonia7.0 miles13
Porfirio7.0 miles9
Colonia los Angeles7.7 miles9
Raymondville7.7 miles9
Los Angeles7.8 miles9
Los Coyotes8.0 miles9

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 San PerlitaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q975101The 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 1346465. 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.