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Somerset, Texas

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the San Antonio South census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78069. The Survey maps it on the Somerset quadrangle. 1,756 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 646 feet above sea level.

Somerset within Bexar County

Population over time

3 figures

Somerset grew from 1,550 to 1,756 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
20001,550
20101,631+81 (+5%)
20201,756+125 (+8%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 10 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

315 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 315 fires within 5 miles of Somerset between 2005 and 2020, burning about 2,452 acres in total. None started naturally. 6 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
Debris and open burning145
Missing data/not specified/undetermined108
Smoking24
Equipment and vehicle use24
Arson/incendiarism6
Power generation/transmission/distribution5
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceSHEPHERD RD & HWY 35
4 September 2012Debris and open burning5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceSMOOT
22 September 2013Smoking1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceMR. W
20 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceWESLEY SHAW
2 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceSTEVENS RD
19 September 2009Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service5118 SAVANAH GREEN
13 September 2015Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceJAMES GALWAY
12 September 2008Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bexar County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Somerset: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General. 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
Fm 1604 Quarry & PlantLimestone, GeneralProducer
Harris PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Bexar County

Storms near this place

17 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Somerset in 17 storm reports between 1995 and 2017: 8 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 3 flash flood. The reports record 30 injuries. 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
March 2002Tornado (F2)Somerset30 hurt, $2,000,000Tornado number five, strongest of the six and rated as a minimal F2 tornado on the Fujita Scale, formed about 3.5 miles southwest of the intersection of Loop 1604 and I35. It struck near 720 pm along near Silver Street and Bravo Street and moved toward the north for 1.5 miles. It apparently weakened periodically, producing a hit-and-miss damage path. It completely destroyed four mobile homes and damaged several others.
March 2002Tornado (F1)Somerset$1,000,000Tornado number six, struck just east of Somerset on SH16, about one mile north of Loop 1604. It was rated F1 on the Fujita Scale, and tracked toward the southeast. It damaged a large barn and several outbuildings at a construction site as it moved approximately one-half mile. It was estimated at 60 yards wide.
February 1998Tornado (F1)Somerset$25,000no account filed
February 1998Thunderstorm WindSomerset$10,000Downbursts over northern Atascosa and southern Bexar Counties, at times accompanied by large hail, resulted in the destruction of hundreds of trees
February 1998HailSomerset$10,000no account filed
May 2017HailSomerset-A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail in Somerset.
August 2016Flash FloodSomerset-Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding closing multiple roads in and around Somerset.
July 2007Flash FloodSomerset-Thunderstorms over Bexar, Atascosa, Wilson, and Guadalupe Counties produced general 2 to 3 inch rain totals with up to 5 inches near Elmendorf. Most rural roads in south Bexar County were closed due to high water, including Somerset Road, SH16, and Pleasanton Road.
March 2007Flash FloodSomerset-Between 2 and 3 inches of rain fell in southern Bexar County, causing widespread flash flooding. Among the many rural roads that were closed was FM2579.
February 2005Thunderstorm WindSomerset-Severe thunderstorm sweeping southeastward from central Medina County crossed into Bexar County near 2 am CST and knocked over numerous power lines across the southern portion of Bexar County from just east of LaCoste to Von Ormy, Somerset and near Braunig Lake. Power was restored by 4 am CST.
April 2004Thunderstorm WindSomerset-Trees were blown down by severe thunderstorm winds just east of Somerset.
April 2016HailSomerset-no account filed
April 2016HailSomerset-no account filed
April 2016HailSomerset-no account filed
December 2009HailSomerset-no account filed
April 2000HailSomerset-no account filed
May 1995HailSomerset-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Bexar 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
Bexar1.6 miles10
Von Ormy4.4 miles12
Garza Crossing4.6 miles13
Atascosa4.8 miles12
Oak Island5.2 miles9
Mann Crossing5.5 miles12
Macdona7.1 miles12
Thelma8.3 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 SomersetAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q976282The 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 1368603. 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.