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Sierra Blanca, Texas

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1895 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Sierra Blanca census division. It lies in ZIP code area 79851. It lies near Texan Mountain. The Survey maps it on the Sierra Blanca quadrangle. 315 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,528 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Sierra Blanca within Hudspeth County

On record in Sierra Blanca

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 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Sierra Blanca fell from 553 to 315 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.

YearPeople Change
2010553
2020315-238 (-43%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 13 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

3 since 2011

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Sierra Blanca in 2011, burning about 6 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/undetermined3

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
8 May 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.5 acresTexas A & M Forest Service120 FIRE
16 May 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service106 FIRE
14 May 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service110 FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hudspeth County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Sierra Blanca: 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Copper. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Unnamed ProspectCopperOccurrenceChrysocolla, Malachite

Every working recorded in Hudspeth County

Storms near this place

21 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sierra Blanca in 21 storm reports between 1997 and 2021: 13 hail, 3 tornado, 3 flash flood, 1 lightning. The reports record 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
October 1998LightningSierra Blanca1 hurtA man was injured and sent to the hospital after his vehicle was struck by lightning.
April 2017HailSierra Blanca$2,000,000Hail from 1.5 inches to 2.5 inches in diameter was reported in and around Sierra Blanca. Some areas had hail up to 3 inches deep. Numerous house windows and automobile windshields were damaged, with many cars left dented. Hail also severely damaged dozens of roofs and even penetrated a few.
May 2007Flash FloodSierra Blanca$50,000At least 6 houses were flooded in Sierra Blanca, with one of them evacuated. Most of the secondary roads in the area were washed out and closed.
September 2021Flash FloodSierra Blanca-TXDOT closed railroad frontage underpass because of flooding in Sierra Blanca.
June 2013HailSierra Blanca-Marble to penny sized hail.
May 2010HailSierra Blanca-Golfball size hail was reported in Sierra Blanca.
May 2010HailSierra Blanca-Nickel to quarter size hail was reported at the United States Border Patrol Station in Sierra Blanca.
June 2007Tornado (EF0)Sierra Blanca-A tornado was observed by a sheriff's deputy near mile marker 114 on Interstate 10, about 6 miles southeast of Sierra Blanca.
September 2007Flash FloodSierra Blanca-Heavy rains (2.5 inches) caused flash flooding in the Sierra Blanca area. Skunk Canyon Road was washed out, and arroyos were over bankfull.
June 2019HailSierra Blanca-no account filed
March 2007HailSierra Blanca-no account filed
May 2005HailSierra Blanca-no account filed
May 2004HailSierra Blanca-no account filed
May 2004HailSierra Blanca-no account filed
October 2004HailSierra Blanca-no account filed
October 2004HailSierra Blanca-no account filed
October 2004HailSierra Blanca-no account filed
June 2003Thunderstorm WindSierra Blanca-no account filed
October 2000HailSierra Blanca-no account filed
June 1997Tornado (F0)Sierra Blanca-no account filed
June 1997Tornado (F1)Sierra Blanca-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hudspeth 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
Etholen3.8 miles13
Arispe4.6 miles13
Mile High7.3 miles12
Old Patterson Place9.4 miles11
Eagle Flat12.7 miles11
Fort Quitman14.3 miles10
Finlay15.6 miles11
Esperanza18.8 miles11

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 Sierra BlancaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q975912The 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 1368253. 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.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

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.