BlockBefore

Welch, Texas

6 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Lamesa Northwest census division. It lies in ZIP code area 79377. The Survey maps it on the Welch West quadrangle. 234 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,120 feet above sea level.

Welch within Dawson County

Population over time

2 figures

Welch grew from 222 to 234 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
2010222
2020234+12 (+5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 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

11 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Welch between 2005 and 2017, burning about 1,250 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Natural3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Equipment and vehicle use1
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
7 August 2014Power generation/transmission/distribution20 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceROBERTS FIRE
11 August 2006Natural200 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
17 June 2017Power generation/transmission/distribution30 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceOXY 1
15 June 2012Natural150 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceOXY 83
26 April 2015Natural50 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceOXY 15
5 February 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined100 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
27 February 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined150 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceWELCH
26 February 2010Debris and open burning100 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCR 690 AND CR 705

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Dawson County

Storms near this place

32 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Welch in 32 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 15 thunderstorm wind, 14 hail, 2 tornado, 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
April 1997HailWelch$300,000no account filed
August 2002Thunderstorm WindWelch$50,000An intense microburst with winds of 80 MPH affected the town of Welch resulting in damage. Farm equipment was destroyed. Lights at the football stadium were also blown down. There were no reports of significant structural damage or injuries, however, minor roof damage occurred.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindWelch$15,000A transformer block was knocked off a power pole towards the south. An empty semi-trailer was also flipped on its side at this location. The time of occurrence is estimated from radar. The maximum gust and cost of damages is also estimated.
August 2002Flash FloodWelch$10,000Intense downpours resulting from the microburst caused flash flooding in Welch. At least one car was stranded in the flood waters with water up to the windows. No injuries were reported.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindWelch$500A stop sign was broken away from its base. The time of occurrence is estimated from radar, as is the maximum wind gust.
March 1993HailWelch$500The Dawson County Sheriff's Office reported golfball-size hail in Welch. The hail fell for 15 minutes and resulted in minor damage to vehicles and crops in the area.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindWelch-The West Texas Mesonet station 96 Welch measured a number of gusts between 60-80 mph, with the maximum gust reaching 77 mph.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindWelch-The West Texas Mesonet station 96 WELCH Dawson County measured a 65 mph wind gust, along with several other severe gusts associated with a strong outflow boundary.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindWelch-The West Texas Mesonet station 96 WELCH Dawson County recorded a couple of severe wind gusts over this 10 minute span of time. The strongest gust was 67 mph.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindWelch-A thunderstorm moved across Dawson County and produced a 58 mph wind gust at the mesonet site in Welch.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindWelch-A thunderstorm moved across Dawson County and produced a 62 mph wind gust at the Welch mesonet site.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindWelch-A thunderstorm moved across Dawson County and produced a 72 mph wind gust at the Welch mesonet site.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindWelch-A thunderstorm moved across Dawson County and produced a 62 mph wind gust at the Welch mesonet site.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindWelch-A thunderstorm moved across Dawson County and produced a 75 mph wind gust at the Welch mesonet site.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindWelch-A thunderstorm moved across Dawson County and produced a 72 mph wind gust in Welch.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindWelch-A thunderstorm moved across Dawson County and produced a 58 mph wind gust in Welch.
May 2003HailWelch-Storm spotters reported large hail to the size of golfballs across the northern half of Dawson County. The golfball size hail began in Welch and tracked southeast to the intersection of Highway 137 and Farm to Market Road 1064. As the storm continued southeast nickel to quarter size hail with occassional stones as large as golfballs was reported five miles north of Lamesa on Highway 87.
May 2000HailWelch-Second cell developed on southern flank of cell #1 and continued northeast into southern Lynn Co.
May 2000HailWelch-Intense single cell storm. Developed in Gaines County and moved northeast into NW Dawson.
April 1997Tornado (F1)Welch-This third tornado formed in open country northeast of Welch and was very short-lived. The storm then entered southwestern Lynn County (see Lubbock synopsis).
June 1995HailWelch-The Gaines County LP supercell moved east into northwestern Dawson County, across the Welch Community. The storm produced hail up to softball-size and a brief tornado. The storm then turned to the southeast, and passed across Lamesa. Softball-size hail was again reported, this time on the north side of Lamesa. Spotters and storm chasers reported a tornado formation two miles northwest of the FM829 and FM2052 intersection. Neither tornado caused any notable damage.
June 1995HailWelch-The Gaines County LP supercell moved east into northwestern Dawson County, across the Welch Community. The storm produced hail up to softball-size and a brief tornado. The storm then turned to the southeast, and passed across Lamesa. Softball-size hail was again reported, this time on the north side of Lamesa. Spotters and storm chasers reported a tornado formation two miles northwest of the FM829 and FM2052 intersection. Neither tornado caused any notable damage.
June 1995HailWelch-The Gaines County LP supercell moved east into northwestern Dawson County, across the Welch Community. The storm produced hail up to softball-size and a brief tornado. The storm then turned to the southeast, and passed across Lamesa. Softball-size hail was again reported, this time on the north side of Lamesa. Spotters and storm chasers reported a tornado formation two miles northwest of the FM829 and FM2052 intersection. Neither tornado caused any notable damage.
June 1995HailWelch-The Gaines County LP supercell moved east into northwestern Dawson County, across the Welch Community. The storm produced hail up to softball-size and a brief tornado. The storm then turned to the southeast, and passed across Lamesa. Softball-size hail was again reported, this time on the north side of Lamesa. Spotters and storm chasers reported a tornado formation two miles northwest of the FM829 and FM2052 intersection. Neither tornado caused any notable damage.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindWelch-no account filed
May 2015HailWelch-no account filed
April 2010HailWelch-no account filed
May 2008HailWelch-no account filed
June 2002HailWelch-no account filed
June 1997Thunderstorm WindWelch-no account filed
May 1996HailWelch-no account filed
May 1996Tornado (F1)Welch-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Dawson 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
Pride2.7 miles6
Punkin Center6.6 miles6
Grandview7.0 miles8
Mungerville10.7 miles6
Hindman13.5 miles8
Arvana13.8 miles8
Sand15.5 miles6
Hancock15.8 miles8

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 WelchAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q979081The 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 1376674. 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.