BlockBefore

Thornton, Texas

6 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Thornton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 76687. It stands on Eaton Branch. The Survey maps it on the Thornton quadrangle. 421 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 492 feet above sea level.

Thornton within Limestone County

Population over time

3 figures

Thornton fell from 525 to 421 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
2000525
2010526+1 (+0%)
2020421-105 (-20%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 6 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

65 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 65 fires within 5 miles of Thornton between 2005 and 2020, burning about 741 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/undetermined30
Debris and open burning24
Equipment and vehicle use5
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Smoking2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
4 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceFM 1246 & LCR 758
19 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service919201601
18 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service918201702
10 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service910201701
25 August 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service8252018
23 August 2006Equipment and vehicle use50 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
23 August 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined100 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
22 August 2019Smoking1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service8222019

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Limestone County

Storms near this place

23 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thornton in 23 storm reports between 1993 and 2020: 10 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 3 tornado, 2 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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)Thornton$250,000This tornado first touched down just west of farm road 2749 about .5 mile southeast of Thornton. Two houses were damaged, one mobile home destroyed and a mobile home unroofed. The tornado moved northeast damaging a barn, then moved into the Davis Prairie community damaging several houses, some mobile homes, and numerous outbuildings. The tornado moved northeast and weakened before dissipating 2.4 miles south of the Box Church community.
November 1996Thunderstorm WindThornton$170,000no account filed
February 1998Thunderstorm WindThornton$120,000Strong wind damaged the roofs of four homes, and destroyed the roof of a barn and a shed. Trees, power lines, and antennas were blown down.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindThornton$30,000Trees were uprooted and a roof was blown off a building. Reported by cooperative observer.
April 2011Heavy RainThornton$25,000A vehicle driving south on Highway 14 near Thornton hydroplanned and crashed resulting in one fatality and one injury.
August 2009Thunderstorm WindThornton$15,000A homeowner suffered damage to his roof when a large limb fell, puncturing a hole into the roof. Several outbuildings were also destroyed on the property.
April 1993Thunderstorm WindThornton$5,000Thunderstorm winds blew a tree down on a vehicle. Shingles were blown off roofs and several television antennas were blown down.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindThornton$2,000Power poles were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindThornton$1,500A trained spotter reported three power poles down in the city of Thornton, TX. A sheet metal carport was also damaged to the north of Thornton along with some tree branches.
September 2020FloodThornton-Emergency management reported water over several roads around the city of Thornton, TX.
April 2018HailThornton-A trained spotter reported quarter-sized hail at County Road 758 approximately 1 mile east of the city of Thornton, TX.
April 2017HailThornton-A trained spotter reported golf ball sized hail near the intersection of Hwy 14 and FM 1246 in the city of Thornton, TX.
April 2017Thunderstorm WindThornton-A trained spotter reported winds in excess of 60 MPH in the city of Thornton, TX.
May 2015Thunderstorm WindThornton-Emergency management reported tree damage blocking roads in Thornton, TX.
December 2015Flash FloodThornton-FM 1246 west of Thornton was barricaded due to water over the road.
April 2011Tornado (EF0)Thornton-A NWS Storm Survey determined an EF-0 tornado began approximately 4 miles south-southeast of Thornton. This tornado had a path length of approximately 0.75 miles and an estimated width of 100 yards. Some tree damage occurred with this tornado and winds were estimated near 75 mph.
October 2006Thunderstorm WindThornton-Sixty to seventy mile an hour winds were estimated by the sheriff's office.
June 2004Flash FloodThornton-Water was over FM 1246.
July 2001HailThornton-no account filed
April 1999HailThornton-no account filed
April 1996Tornado (F0)Thornton-no account filed
April 1996HailThornton-no account filed
April 1996HailThornton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Limestone 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
Davis Prairie2.6 miles6
Beulah3.4 miles6
Pleasant Grove3.6 miles6
Coit5.6 miles6
Box Church6.0 miles7
Red Hill6.1 miles6
Buffalo Mop6.5 miles6
Big Hill6.6 miles6

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 ThorntonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q976067The 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 1369866. 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.