Sweetwater, Texas
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Sweetwater census division. It lies in ZIP code area 79556. It lies near Wolf Hollow. The Survey maps it on the Sweetwater quadrangle. 10,622 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,169 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Sweetwater
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 4 records
First National Bank Buildinglisted 1983
I.M. and Margaret Newman Houselisted 2003
R. A. Ragland Buildinglisted 1979
Sweetwater Commercial Historic Districtlisted 1984
Population over time
2 figuresSweetwater fell from 10,906 to 10,622 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 10,906 | |
| 2020 | 10,622 | -284 (-3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 13 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1893 USGS Sweetwater quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Big Spring quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Big Spring quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Sweetwater quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Sweetwater quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
131 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 131 fires within 5 miles of Sweetwater between 2006 and 2020, burning about 1,006 acres in total. 3 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 46 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 28 |
| Debris and open burning | 22 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2009 | Natural | 5.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | MM 253 PASTURE FIRE |
| 6 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BLUEBONNET FIRE |
| 26 September 2013 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 20 248 FIRE |
| 22 September 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 900 RUNNELS FIRE |
| 20 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 170/443 |
| 2 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | COUNTRY CLUB GRASS FIRE |
| 16 September 2013 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 15TH FIRE |
| 12 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | USG |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Sweetwater: 8 producers, 1 occurrence. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Gypsum-Anhydrite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Perlite, Strontium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lonestar Clay Pit | Clay | Producer | ||
| Somnerville Occurrence | Strontium | Occurrence | Celestite | |
| Hillsdale Pit & Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Stevenson Property | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sweetwater Gypsum Plant | Gypsum-Anhydrite, Perlite | Producer | ||
| Sweetwater Gypsum Quarry | Gypsum-Anhydrite, Perlite | Producer | ||
| Sweetwater Plant | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Quarry | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Unnamed Quarry | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Producer | Sedimentary |
Storms near this place
60 of 146 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sweetwater in 146 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 82 hail, 43 thunderstorm wind, 14 flash flood, 4 tornado. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | 1 hurt, $1,000,000 | no account filed |
| March 2007 | Tornado (EF0) | Sweetwater | 1 hurt, $10,000 | The tornado began on Interstate 20 at Stink Creek Road and overturned a tractor trailer rig on the interstate. |
| May 2004 | Hail | Sweetwater | $1,500,000 | Several homes and businesses on the south side of Sweetwater received significant damage due to golf ball size hail in combination with 80 mph winds. |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $1,500,000 | Significant damage was noted in the southern portions of Sweetwater due to 80 mph winds and golf ball size hail. |
| May 1995 | Hail | Sweetwater | $300,000 | no account filed |
| March 2004 | Tornado (F1) | Sweetwater | $100,000 | Numerous manufactured homes were damaged or destroyed by a tornado around Lake Sweetwater. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $50,000 | Severe thunderstorm wind gusts produced damage to several buildings and blew down several trees. |
| August 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $50,000 | Winds blew down several trees and power poles. One pole fell on a house. There was also damage to a barn. Car windows were blown in.Single cell thunderstorms developed over the western Big Country in the mid summer daytime heating. Although deep convection was inhibited by very warm air aloft, the thunderstorms collapsed quickly and produced microburst winds. |
| June 1997 | Flash Flood | Sweetwater | $50,000 | Street flooding occurred on the south side of Sweetwater while Highway 70 just north of the town was flooded. About two to four inches of rain fell but some nearby locations received much more. Farm Road 1170 between Mayneal and Blackwell was more than six feet under water from nine inches of rain. |
| May 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $50,000 | The Nolan County Sheriff's Office and the public reported downburst winds to 70 miles an hour in Sweetwater. The wind damaged roofs and downed power lines and trees. |
| June 1997 | Flash Flood | Sweetwater | $50,000 | no account filed |
| October 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $50,000 | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Flash Flood | Sweetwater | $40,000 | Many roads were impassable. |
| May 2002 | Hail | Sweetwater | $30,000 | Several motorists on Interstate 20 east of Sweetwater encountered baseball size hail that produced damage to their vehicles. |
| March 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $25,000 | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $10,000 | Strong thunderstorms knocked down trees and power lines in Sweetwater. There were numerous windows blown out of homes and businesses. |
| April 2007 | Hail | Sweetwater | $8,000 | The hail Size increased to Baseball size on Ranch Road 419 near the Fisher and Nolan County line. |
| May 2002 | Hail | Sweetwater | $8,000 | Golfball size hail produce roof and window damage to a house near Lake Sweetwater. |
| May 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $5,000 | High thunderstorm winds blew down several trees at the Lake Sweetwater Country Club. One house had some slight damage due to the winds. |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds downed trees, ripped shingles off roofs, and knocked down power lines across the city of Sweetwater. |
| May 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 to 80 mph severely damaged a carport and broke large limbs off of trees in the Lake Sweetwater area. One house also suffered minor roof damage. |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $5,000 | Damaging winds swept through the community of Sweetwater. A brick wall was toppled and a carport suffered minor damage. A radio tower was also blown over, with tree limbs snapped throughout the city. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $5,000 | The roof of a commercial building was ripped off by high winds, with debris from the roof damaging a passing car. |
| September 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $2,000 | Several power lines and small trees were blown down across the city. |
| May 2002 | Tornado (F0) | Sweetwater | $1,000 | The fire department reported a narrow debris path crossing state highway 70 south of Sweetwater. |
| March 1993 | Hail | Sweetwater | $50 | As the Mitchell County storm moved east, dime-size hail fell at Sweetwater. No significant damage resulted. |
| April 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | Public reported a cotton storage warehouse was heavily damaged by a downburst. |
| April 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | The Nolan County Sherriff's Office reported multiple power poles down in Sweetwater. |
| April 2024 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | Public reported quarter size hail. |
| November 2024 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | Public reported penny size hail. |
| April 2023 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | A report of baseball size hail from mping, 2 miles east of Sweetwater. |
| April 2023 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | Law enforcement reported golf ball size hail in Sweetwater. |
| April 2023 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | A report of hen egg size hail from mping in Sweetwater. |
| April 2023 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | The public reported golf ball size hail 4.3 miles east-northeast of Sweetwater. |
| April 2023 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | The hen egg size hail report from mping was located 2 miles east-northeast of Sweetwater. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | The public reported trees uprooted and snapped. Also, a roof was blown off. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | A Facebook post of a uprooted medium size tree in Sweetwater. The time was estimated off radar. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | A trained spotter reported part of a roof blown off a house and power lines were blown down in Sweetwater. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | Public reported trees uprooted and snapped. Also, a roof was blown off. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | There were tractor trailers blown over on I-20 near mile marker 244 in Sweetwater. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | A trained spotter reports multiple power poles and large trees blown down in Sweetwater. |
| July 2021 | Flood | Sweetwater | - | The Sweetwater Police Department reported flooding along a portion of an I-20 service road. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | Public reported this 1.25 inch hail report on the north side of Sweetwater using the Mping App. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | The Sweetwater Fire Department reported that a couple of semi-trucks were jackknifed by strong thunderstorm winds, on Interstate 20 in Sweetwater. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | The public reported quarter size hail along Interstate 20, on the south side of Sweetwater. |
| May 2019 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | A trained spotter reported golf ball size mixed with ping pong ball size hail in Sweetwater. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | Law Enforcement reported trees down across Sweetwater. |
| May 2019 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | The public reported quarter size hail in Sweetwater. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | The Fire Department reported a large tree blown down in Sweetwater. |
| March 2018 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | A trained spotter reported quarter size hail near Sweetwater. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | A wind gust of 60 mph was reported. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | Sweetwater Police relayed reports of winds knocking down a few trees near the 1000 Block of Pines Street in Sweetwater. |
| October 2017 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | Law enforcement reported golf ball size hail in Sweetwater. |
| April 2016 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | A trained spotter reported quarter size hail at the intersection of I-20 and State Highway 70. |
| September 2016 | Flash Flood | Sweetwater | - | Numerous streets were barricaded throughout Sweetwater due to high water over the roads. A couple of stranded vehicles had to be towed out of high water. |
| October 2015 | Heavy Rain | Sweetwater | - | Two inches of heavy rain fell in 30 minutes across Sweetwater. This heavy rain resulted in street flooding with water over the curbs and traffic nearly at stand still. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | Local police in Sweetwater estimated a thunderstorm wind gust at 60 mph. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | A tree was blown down in Sweetwater. |
| May 2013 | Hail | Sweetwater | - | Law Enforcement reported two inch hail at the TA Truck Stop along Interstate 20 at Mile Marker 242. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | - | Law enforcement reported trees and power lines were down in Sweetwater. |
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.
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 Sweetwater | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q981845 | The 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 1348139. 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.




