Buford, Wyoming
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1905 and the latest in 1987. It stands in the South Albany census division. It lies in ZIP code area 82052. The Survey maps it on the Buford quadrangle. It stands 8,000 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 16 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.
- 1905 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1948 USGS Sherman Mountains quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Sherman Mountains quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Cheyenne quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Cheyenne quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Laramie quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1987 USGS Buford quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
51 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 51 fires within 5 miles of Buford between 1992 and 2019, burning about 46 acres in total. 8 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 |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 24 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 |
| Natural | 8 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, Thunder Basin National Grassland | BUFORD |
| 29 September 2003 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, Thunder Basin National Grassland | PAPA |
| 28 September 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, Thunder Basin National Grassland | 700N |
| 27 September 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 4.0 acres | Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, Thunder Basin National Grassland | not named |
| 18 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Wyoming State Forestry | not named |
| 16 September 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, Thunder Basin National Grassland | BUFORD TRAIL |
| 13 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wyoming State Forestry | ROBERT FIRE |
| 13 September 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, Thunder Basin National Grassland | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Buford: 2 prospects, 1 occurrence, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Uranium, Copper, Gold. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherman Group Prospect | Copper, Gold | Occurrence | Gold | |
| Buford Area | Uranium | Unknown | ||
| No Name Pegmatites | Uranium | Prospect | ||
| Sherman Group | Uranium | Prospect |
Storms near this place
17 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buford in 17 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 8 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 lightning. The reports record 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2023 | Lightning | Buford | 1 hurt | An active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force was struck by lightning while outdoors on the grounds at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base. The lightning strike hit a military vehicle while the individual was in contact with the vehicle frame. |
| July 2025 | Hail | Buford | - | Public report of accumulating dime size hail along Interstate 80. Hail about 1 to 3 inches deep in some areas. A few estimated ping pong ball sized hailstones mixed in with the smaller hail. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Buford | - | Report of hail covering Interstate 80. Time based on radar. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buford | - | Wyoming Department of Transportation site at Vedauwoo (WY36) measured the reported wind speed. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buford | - | Winds measured at station WY37 located one mile east-southeast of Buford. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buford | - | Winds measured at the Lone Tree Wyoming Department of Transportation mesonet. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buford | - | Estimated wind gusts of 60 mph were observed south of Chugwater. |
| May 2018 | Tornado (EFU) | Buford | - | Tornado spotted north of Highway 210 by Curt Gowdy State Park staffer. Estimated distance between observer and tornado was 2 to 3 miles. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buford | - | The WYDOT sensors at Buford East and Lone Tree measured wind gusts between 60 and 76 mph. |
| July 2015 | Hail | Buford | - | Baseball size hail was observed 26 miles west of Cheyenne. |
| July 2013 | Hail | Buford | - | Quarter size hail was reported six miles east of Vedauwoo. |
| July 2010 | Hail | Buford | - | Ground completely covered with hail up to the size of quarters. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buford | - | Dime sized hail as well. |
| May 2008 | Hail | Buford | - | Hail from nickel to golf ball size reported. |
| May 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buford | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Buford | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Buford | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sherman | 3.0 miles | 16 | |
| Hirsig | 4.8 miles | 19 | |
| Dale Creek | 5.3 miles | 16 | |
| Hermosa | 10.0 miles | 16 | |
| Tie Siding | 11.1 miles | 19 | |
| The Buttes | 14.4 miles | 18 | |
| Red Buttes | 15.9 miles | 18 | |
| Laramie | 20.0 miles | 19 |
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 Buford | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q652973 | 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 1586078. 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.






