BlockBefore

Tow, Texas

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Llano North census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78672. It stands on Calvert Creek. The Survey maps it on the Tow quadrangle. 226 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,037 feet above sea level.

Tow within Llano County

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 18 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

15 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Tow between 2005 and 2020, burning about 1,057 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/undetermined8
Debris and open burning6
Equipment and vehicle use1

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 2011Debris and open burning21 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceELB VFD
4 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceLOMA VISTA (11-0108)
29 September 2011Debris and open burning4.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE
6 August 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined376 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCHIANS
2 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined25 acresTexas A & M Forest Service217
14 July 2017Equipment and vehicle use2.6 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceELBVFD(1700097)
9 June 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGOODRICH RANCH (11-0069)
30 June 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined586 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceLONE GROVE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Llano 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 Tow: 5 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Lead, Copper, Silver, Gold, Fluorine-Fluorite, Zinc, Silver, Molybdenum, Gold, Iron, Lead. 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
Bailey ProspectCopper, Silver, Gold, Fluorine-FluoriteOccurrence
Frank Thomas FarmZinc, Silver, Molybdenum, Gold, Iron, LeadOccurrence
Beaver Creek LocationLeadOccurrence
Beaver Creek ProspectLeadOccurrence1890
Silver Creek MineLeadOccurrence

Every working recorded in Llano County

Storms near this place

23 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tow in 23 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 19 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 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
July 2022Thunderstorm WindTow$50,000A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 70 mph that downed power lines and damaged roofs just east of Tow along Lake Buchanan.
May 2008Thunderstorm WindTow$2,000Trees and power lines were reported down.
May 2025HailTow-A thunderstorm produced baseball size hail in Buchanan Lake Village.
March 2024HailTow-A thunderstorm produced nickel size hail in Tow.
April 2024HailTow-A thunderstorm produced 2.25 inch diameter hail in Tow.
May 2023HailTow-A thunderstorm produced dime to nickel size hail and wind gusts up to 50 mph in Tow.
June 2023HailTow-A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail in Tow.
June 2023HailTow-A thunderstorm produced 2.25 inch diameter hail on the west side of Lake Buchanan.
May 2021HailTow-A thunderstorm produced golf ball size hail between Tow and Bluffton.
April 2018HailTow-A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail at the Hi-Line Lake Resort in Tow.
April 2018HailTow-A thunderstorm produced half dollar size hail at the Texas Hills RV Haven in Tow.
April 2018HailTow-A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail in the Tow area.
March 2016Thunderstorm WindTow-A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 60 mph that knocked down large tree branches and damaged a carport on Lakeshore Loop near Lake Buchanan.
July 2005Flash FloodTow-Heavy rainfall from the thunderstorms that had formed across the northern Texas Hill Country spread into the Tow area by late evening. The storms produced a general 1 inch rainfall across northeastern Llano County, with up to 4 inches at Tow. FM2241 was closed near Tow due to flash flooding.
October 1994HailTow-A spotter reported hail ranging from 0.75 to 0.88 inches in diameter in Tow.
October 1993HailTow-Dime-size hail was reported in the Town of Tow.
May 2020HailTow-no account filed
April 2018HailTow-no account filed
May 2011HailTow-no account filed
May 2008HailTow-no account filed
June 2003HailTow-no account filed
June 2001HailTow-no account filed
March 1999HailTow-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Llano 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
Buchanan Lake Village2.6 miles18
Bluffton4.4 miles18
Golden Beach5.7 miles18
Lone Grove7.3 miles16
Stolz8.6 miles16
Baby Head (historical)9.6 miles17
Buchanan Dam10.1 miles20
Llano13.7 miles17

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 TowAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q14711380The 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 1370047. 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.