Whiteflat, Texas

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the North Motley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 79244. The Survey maps it on the Whiteflat quadrangle. It stands 2,411 feet above sea level.

Whiteflat within Motley County

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 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.

1954 USGS Plainview quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1958 USGS Plainview quadrangle1:250000
1967 USGS Whiteflat quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1986 USGS Childress quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Fires near this place

22 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of Whiteflat between 2006 and 2018, burning about 2,534 acres in total. 6 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
Natural	6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	6
Debris and open burning	4
Equipment and vehicle use	3
Smoking	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1

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
22 September 2010	Power generation/transmission/distribution	30 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	DIXSON
11 August 2017	Natural	818 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	TOM BALL CREEK
5 July 2011	Smoking	30 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	SALT JONES
29 July 2018	Natural	45 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	GORDON RUSSELL
22 July 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	not named
2 July 2016	Natural	20 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	COGDELL
12 July 2018	Natural	2.0 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	RISSER
5 June 2018	Natural	20 acres	Texas A & M Forest Service	SW OF WHITEFLAT

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Motley County

Storms near this place

12 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Whiteflat in 12 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 6 hail, 3 tornado, 2 flood, 1 flash flood. The reports record 4 deaths and 15 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
June 2023	Tornado (EF3)	Whiteflat	4 killed, 15 hurt	The second of several tornadoes touched down north of Matador in an open field east of State Highway 70. The tornado then tracked to the south through open country until it reached just north of Farm to Market Road 94 where it damaged a few power poles. It then traveled to the south-southeast where it destroyed a house on the far north side of the city. Three vehicles at this residence were rolled at least a few hundred yards away from the house with two of the vehicles unable to be located. The tornado continued to track south along State Highway 70 where it damaged two additional houses and rolled another truck several hundred feet. The tornado then tracked back to the southwest and crossed State Highway 70 and damaged several houses northwest of the intersection of State Highway 70 and US Highway 62, as well as rolling several vehicles including a tractor-trailer. The tornado then crossed US Highway 62 between the Texas Department of Transportation facility and State Highway 70 where it rolled an RV, destroyed a house, and steel framed retail store, and partially collapsed a power substation. The tornado continued traveling to the southeast paralleling State Highway 70 and damaged several more single family residences with another house being destroyed. The tornado then crossed State Highway 70 just south of Cross Lane where it destroyed a 500 foot radio tower as well as some light poles. The tornado then dissipated over an open field southeast of the Matador rest stop.
April 2010	Flood	Whiteflat	$25,000	Flooding from heavy rainfall resulted in high water over a number of roadways near Whiteflat, including Texas Highway 70.
May 2025	Hail	Whiteflat	-	A swath of hail was observed by numerous storm chasers along Ranch Road 2999 east of Texas State Highway 70 northwest of Matador. Hail ranged in size from quarters to ping pong ball size.
April 2025	Tornado (EFU)	Whiteflat	-	Multiple storm chasers published photograph and video evidence of a large tornado that crossed over open ranch land from Floyd County into Motley County. No damage was reported or found with this tornado. However, trees and shrubs were lofted and power flashes observed on chaser video.
April 2025	Flash Flood	Whiteflat	-	A slow moving supercell thunderstorm trained over areas of Motley County producing very heavy rainfall and flash flooding. An NWS cooperative weather observer reported flash flooding within the city of Roaring Springs as well as flooding over Texas State Highway 70 between Matador and Roaring Springs.
May 2024	Hail	Whiteflat	-	A storm chaser reported ping pong ball size hail along Texas State Highway 70 north of Matador.
June 2023	Tornado (EFU)	Whiteflat	-	The first of several tornadoes developed approximately seven miles north of Matador. Storm chasers stated that there was a brief tornado touchdown over open ranch land. No known damage occurred.
May 2022	Hail	Whiteflat	-	Quarter size hail was reported south of Whiteflat along Texas Highway 70.
May 2017	Hail	Whiteflat	-	A storm chaser reported ping pong size hail several miles northwest of Matador on State Highway 70.
April 2015	Flood	Whiteflat	-	The Motley County emergency manager reported water over State Highway 70 north of Matador with several secondary roads impassable from high water.
April 2012	Hail	Whiteflat	-	Fire department personnel estimated quarter size hail 6W Matador. No damage was reported.
April 1999	Hail	Whiteflat	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Motley 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Whitestar	5.2 miles	8
Matador	7.4 miles	8
Flomot	9.9 miles	8
Folley	13.2 miles	8
Roaring Springs	14.3 miles	8
Mac Bain	15.3 miles	8
Russellville	16.6 miles	8
Northfield	19.9 miles	8

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 Whiteflat	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q28449406	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 1371438. 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.