BlockBefore

Seth Ward, Texas

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Plainview census division. It lies in ZIP code area 79072. The Survey maps it on the Plainview quadrangle. 1,603 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,373 feet above sea level.

Seth Ward within Hale County

Population over time

3 figures

Seth Ward fell from 1,926 to 1,603 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
20001,926
20102,025+99 (+5%)
20201,603-422 (-21%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 7 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

6 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Seth Ward between 2007 and 2018, burning about 2,268 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
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
14 July 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service1500037
18 June 2007Equipment and vehicle use40 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
12 March 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined120 acresTexas A & M Forest Service2018-27MA
25 February 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined2,100 acresTexas A & M Forest Service400 GIN
11 February 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Service2017-11
30 January 2016Debris and open burning6.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hale County

Storms near this place

28 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Seth Ward in 28 storm reports between 2002 and 2026: 22 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 tornado, 1 heavy rain. 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
August 2008Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward$150,000Hale County officials reported that numerous power lines were blown down by thunderstorm winds in Seth Ward. Damaging winds continued to accompany the convective complex southward across the county. Around 20:00 CST, winds estimated to approach 80 mph caused significant damage to two businesses near Interstate 27 in Abernathy. The roof was completely blown off of one industrial size metal structure, while another sustained partial roof loss. Subsequent wind and water damage inside the fully exposed building led to a total loss of that facility. No injuries were reported, but more than 5,200 homes and businesses were reportedly without utility power following the storm.
April 2026Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured severe wind gusts associated with an outflow boundary from 2154 CST through 2156 CST. A peak gust of 65 mph was measured at 2154 CST.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured severe wind gusts from 0113 CST through 0115 CST. A peak gust of 61 mph was measured at 0113 CST.
February 2024Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured a wind gust to 58 mph.
May 2023Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured severe wind gusts from 0317 CST through 0322 CST. A peak wind gust of 63 mph was measured at 0317 CST.
May 2023Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured a wind gust to 59 mph.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured severe wind gusts from 0046 CST through 0047 CST. A peak wind gust of 67 was measured at 0047 CST.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured a wind gust of 59 mph.
March 2021Tornado (EFU)Seth Ward-A storm chaser photographed a brief tornado northwest of the intersection of Farm to Market Road 2286 and County Road 77.
July 2021Heavy RainSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured 4.72 inches of rain between 2001 CST and 2201 CST with a peak one hour rainfall rate of 3.43 inches from 2031 CST to 2131 CST.
May 2020HailSeth Ward-A report was received of ping pong ball size hail along US Highway 70 east of Plainview.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured a wind gust to 60 mph at 1642 CST and then 59 mph at 1646 CST.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured severe wind gusts of 58 mph at 2223 CST and 2226 CST.
May 2019Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured a wind gust to 59 mph.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured a wind gust to 59 mph.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet measured a wind gust to 62 mph.
August 2017Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet near Aiken.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet near Aiken.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Aiken measured a wind gust to 69 mph.
November 2015Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet station.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet station west of Aiken.
May 2014Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet station.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet station near Aiken. A second 60 mph gust was measured by this station at 0135 CST.
June 2009HailSeth Ward-Two inch diameter hail was reported by the The National Severe Storms Laboratory SHAVE Project east of Seth Ward. These very large hail stones briefly mixed with smaller quarter size hail. No significant damage was reported as a result of the hail.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindSeth Ward-Thunderstorm winds blew siding off of a barn just southwest of Seth Ward at 17:40 CST. By 17:45 CST, large hail began to fall at the damage site.
June 2009HailSeth Ward-The National Severe Storms Laboratory SHAVE Project reported quarter size hail, occasionally larger, in the Seth Ward vicinity between 17:45 and 18:15. The hail was preceded by damaging thunderstorm winds immediately southwest of Seth Ward.
May 2002HailSeth Ward-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hale 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
Plainview2.1 miles7
Wasson3.7 miles8
Lider4.3 miles7
Finney4.7 miles7
Furguson6.5 miles7
Boone6.9 miles8
Snyder7.5 miles7
Wright7.9 miles7

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 Seth WardAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q978553The 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 1367965. 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.