BlockBefore

Sunset, Texas

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Bowie census division. It lies in ZIP code area 76270. The Survey maps it on the Sunset quadrangle. 543 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 991 feet above sea level.

Sunset within Montague County

Population over time

3 figures

Sunset grew from 339 to 543 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
2000339
2010497+158 (+47%)
2020543+46 (+9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 8 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

240 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 240 fires within 5 miles of Sunset between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,164 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 4 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 burning92
Missing data/not specified/undetermined78
Equipment and vehicle use37
Railroad operations and maintenance9
Power generation/transmission/distribution7
Smoking6
Arson/incendiarism4
Natural4
Recreation and ceremony3

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 2017Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCAR FIRE
30 September 2016Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCONTROLLED BURN
30 September 2014Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCONTROLLED BURN
3 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE
3 September 2014Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceARP
3 September 2011Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServicePINK WILSON RR GRASS
29 September 2014Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCONTROLLED BURN
28 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceRATER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Montague County

Storms near this place

33 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sunset in 33 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 27 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 death and 11 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
May 1995Tornado (F3)Sunset-1 killed, 11 hurt, $2,000,000Tornado number two was a large tornado with a path one-half mile wide and 19 miles long. The storm ripped through Montague County, killing a 97 year-old man near Forestburg and injuring 11 other people. At least 30 houses and two mobile homes were destroyed, numerous barns and other outbuildings were destroyed, telephone and power lines were downed across the eastern half of the county, and an undetermined number of cattle and dairy cows were killed or injured. (M97O)
April 2016HailSunset$100,000Emergency management reported tennis ball sized hail in Sunset, TX.
April 2019HailSunset$10,000Amateur radio reported hen-egg size hail approximately 1 mile southwest of the city of Sunset, TX.
April 2019HailSunset$10,000Amateur radio reported 2-inch diameter hail approximately 1 mile southwest of the city of Sunset, TX.
April 2016HailSunset$10,000Emergency management reported golfball sized hail between the towns of Bowie and Sunset.
April 2013HailSunset$10,000no account filed
April 2013HailSunset$7,000Ping pong ball sized hail was reported 6 miles northwest of Alvord; which is just north of the Wise/Montague County line.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindSunset$5,000Emergency management reported roof damage to the post office in Sunset, TX.
April 1996Tornado (F0)Sunset$5,000no account filed
April 2013HailSunset$3,000Copious amounts of nickel to quarter sized hail covered the ground 7 miles north-northwest of Alvord in southern Montague County.
April 2013HailSunset$3,000no account filed
April 2011HailSunset$3,000no account filed
May 2025HailSunset-Social media photo showed half dollar size hail in Sunset.
November 2024Flash FloodSunset-The Sunset VFD reported flooding on State Hwy 101 near the Big Sandy Creek Bridge.
April 2019HailSunset-A trained spotter reported quarter size hail in the city of Sunset, TX.
May 2018HailSunset-Amateur radio reported penny sized hail in the city of Sunset, TX.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindSunset-Trees down on Picket Run Road near Hwy 101 in Sunset.
March 2013HailSunset-Trained spotters reported quarter sized hail approximately 5 miles east of Sunset.
March 2013HailSunset-Trained spotters reported one inch hail 5 miles east of Sunset, near the County line.
April 2013HailSunset-Quarter sized hail was reported approximately 5-6 miles north-northwest of Alvord which is in southern Montague County very near the county border.
April 2013HailSunset-Quarter sized hail was reported east of Sunset.
April 2013HailSunset-Half dollar sized hail was reported at HWY 101 and Hwy 287 near Sunset.
April 2013HailSunset-Half dollar sized hail was reported east of Sunset.
February 2012HailSunset-One inch diameter hail was reported by amateur radio in the town of Sunset.
April 2001Thunderstorm WindSunset-Reported by the general public.
July 1995HailSunset-A brief tornado touchdown was reported.
March 2015HailSunset-no account filed
April 2013HailSunset-no account filed
April 2011HailSunset-no account filed
June 2006HailSunset-no account filed
October 1998HailSunset-no account filed
April 1996HailSunset-no account filed
July 1995HailSunset-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Montague 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
Smyrna2.4 miles8
Fruitland3.8 miles10
Salona6.7 miles10
McDonald6.8 miles10
Selma6.9 miles8
Dry Valley8.1 miles10
Bowie8.6 miles10
New Harp10.3 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 SunsetAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q979225The 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 1369410. 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.