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Study Butte, Texas

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Alpine census division. It lies in ZIP code area 79852. It stands on Study Butte. The Survey maps it on the Terlingua quadrangle. 200 people lived here at the 2020 count.

Study Butte within Brewster County

Population over time

2 figures

Study Butte fell from 233 to 200 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
2010233
2020200-33 (-14%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 16 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

5 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Study Butte between 1992 and 2009, burning about 19 acres in total. 3 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
Natural3
Smoking1
Debris and open burning1

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
20 June 1993Smokingunder an acreBig Bend National ParkBOUNDARY
17 May 1998Naturalunder an acreBig Bend National ParkDOGIE
22 April 2009Debris and open burning4.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGATE 3
13 April 1992Naturalunder an acreBig Bend National ParkLUJAN
23 January 2008Natural15 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Brewster County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Study Butte: 3 occurrences, 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Mercury. 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
Brown ProspectsMercuryOccurrenceVein
Study Butte MineMercuryPast Producer1902, 1903, 1972
Two-Forty-Eight MineMercuryPast Producer1902, 1926, 1945
Unnamed ProspectMercuryOccurrenceVein
Unnamed ProspectsMercuryOccurrence

Every working recorded in Brewster County

Storms near this place

29 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Study Butte in 29 storm reports between 1997 and 2022: 16 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood. The reports record 2 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
June 1997HailStudy Butte2 hurt, $10,000North of where the RFD winds caused damage, hail up to softball size smashed car windshields and pummelled a couple of houses. One gentleman, who was attempting to close a window, was injured when hail broke the window and caused several facial lacerations. He was taken by private vehicle to the Alpine Hospital. A second man suffered minor cuts on his legs.
August 2022Flash FloodStudy Butte$10,000Heavy rain resulted in flash flooding in Brewster County. Route 16 and Old Maverick from the Maverick Entrance were closed due to the flooding. Rocks up to bowling ball sized were being removed. A couple of cars were stalled. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.
April 2006Thunderstorm WindStudy Butte$10,000Severe thunderstorm winds blew several roofs off of outbuildings and rolled a recreational vehicle in the Study Butte/Terlingua Ranch area.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindStudy Butte$5,000A large water tank was blown over by severe thunderstorm winds near the Terlingua Ranch Lodge east of State Highway 118.
August 1997Thunderstorm WindStudy Butte$3,000A wet microburst destroyed two cab-over pickup truck trailers. One trailer was thrown over utility lines into an adjacent yard while the other trailer was thrown into a utility pole.
May 2015Thunderstorm WindStudy Butte$2,000A thunderstorm moved across Brewster County and produced wind damage near Terlingua. Two power poles were reported to have been knocked down by wind on Highway 118 and Farm to Market Road 170. The winds were estimated to be 80+ mph. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.
May 2002Thunderstorm WindStudy Butte$1,000Minor roof damage rsulted from thunderstorm winds.
May 2015Thunderstorm WindStudy Butte-A thunderstorm moved across Brewster County and produced 50 to 60 mph wind gusts at the motel in Study Butte. No damage was reported.
May 2012Thunderstorm WindStudy Butte-A thunderstorm moved over Brewster County and produced 70 mph winds three miles southeast of Study Butte.
May 2007HailStudy Butte-Golfball sized hail fell at Terlingua High School.
July 2004Flash FloodStudy Butte-During the mid morning hours Sunday, infrared satellite imagery depicted rapid cooling of cloud top temperatures over the southern Big Bend as thunderstorm activity increased. This activity resulted in flash flooding across portions of the national and state parks. State Route 170 was inundated by high water at several locations when Terlingua Creek and Long Draw flooded near Study Butte.
July 2004Flash FloodStudy Butte-The National Park Service and the local media reported that flash flooding along Alamo Creek resulted in flowing water that inundated State Route 170 east of Study Butte. In addition, flash flooding of low lying areas resulted in hazardous driving conditions along State Highway 118 north of the city.
September 2004HailStudy Butte-Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms erupted over the mountainous terrain of southwest Texas during the afternoon hours of the 25th. The National Park Service reported quarter size hail near Study Butte.
July 2002Flash FloodStudy Butte-Heavy rains caused Alamito Creek to wash over Old Maverick Road on the west side of the Big Bend National Park.
April 1999HailStudy Butte-Single cell severe crossing Terlingua Ranch.
June 1999HailStudy Butte-Strong cell in a large area of precipitation that briefly produced dime-size hail.
June 1997Thunderstorm WindStudy Butte-Outflow on the south edge of a thunderstorm peeled half the roof off a house. Power was knocked out as well over a large area until 10:30 the next morning.
June 1997HailStudy Butte-Golfball size hail fell on the northern sections of Terlingua Ranch.
June 2019HailStudy Butte-no account filed
May 2019HailStudy Butte-no account filed
May 2015HailStudy Butte-no account filed
May 2012HailStudy Butte-no account filed
May 2012HailStudy Butte-no account filed
May 2012HailStudy Butte-no account filed
April 2004HailStudy Butte-no account filed
April 2002HailStudy Butte-no account filed
May 2002HailStudy Butte-no account filed
June 2002HailStudy Butte-no account filed
June 2000Flash FloodStudy Butte-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Brewster 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
Terlingua4.5 miles16
Lunas7.1 miles15
Terlingua Abaja9.5 miles15
Onion Spring11.9 miles11
Castolon12.8 miles15
Santa Elena Crossing13.6 miles13
Lajitas13.6 miles17
Basin Junction14.6 miles13

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 Study ButteAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q12960051The 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 2034876. 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.