Powell, Wyoming
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the Powell census division. It lies in ZIP code area 82435. The Survey maps it on the Elk Basin SE quadrangle. 6,419 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,393 feet above sea level.
On record in Powell
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 2 records
US Post Office-Powell Mainlisted 1987- American Legion Halllisted 2023
Population over time
2 figuresPowell grew from 6,314 to 6,419 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6,314 | |
| 2020 | 6,419 | +105 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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.
- 1955 USGS Cody quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Cody quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Cody quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Elk Basin SE quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1980 USGS Powell quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
56 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 56 fires within 5 miles of Powell between 2002 and 2020, burning about 71 acres in total. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 38 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 9 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Park County | 158 |
| 12 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Park County | 177 |
| 8 August 2002 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Wyoming State Forestry | not named |
| 3 August 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Park County | 142 |
| 27 August 2017 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Park County | 154 |
| 22 August 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Park County | 152 |
| 17 August 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 2.0 acres | Wyoming State Forestry | not named |
| 11 August 2018 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Park County | 160 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
11 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Powell in 11 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 5 hail, 2 flash flood, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2000 | Hail | Powell | $500,000 | no account filed |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Powell | $6,000 | An automated weather station on the far west side of Powell recorded a peak thunderstorm wind gust of 58.3 mph at 1708MST. The wind dropped a tree on North Douglas Street in Powell and stopped traffic for 30 minutes. Seven other toppled trees in an older section of town blocked streets for approximately three hours until city crews could clear the debris using chainsaws. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Powell | - | In Park County, a trained spotter reported nickel-sized hail with a thunderstorm near Powell, WY. |
| July 2019 | Flash Flood | Powell | - | Nearly an inch of rain and a large amount of large hail fell in only 20 minutes around Powell, Wyoming. The result were numerous areas that were flooded, including streets, businesses and homes. The main damage was from water in basements and flooded roads. |
| April 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Powell | - | A thunderstorm rolled across the northern Big Horn Basin and produced a severe wind gust at an automated station in Powell. |
| June 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Powell | - | This tornado formed 5 miles east/southeast of Powell and tracked eastward for 3.5 miles before exiting Park County about 8.5 miles east/southeast of Powell. This tornado continued in Big Horn County for another half mile, before dissipating at 1231 MST. This tornado formed over open country without damage, therefore it was rated as F0. |
| July 2025 | Hail | Powell | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Powell | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Heavy Rain | Powell | - | no account filed |
| August 1998 | Hail | Powell | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Flash Flood | Powell | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willwood | 4.0 miles | 7 | |
| Garland | 5.4 miles | 7 | |
| Ralston | 6.3 miles | 7 | |
| Kamms Corner | 9.5 miles | 7 | |
| Vocation | 11.7 miles | 7 | |
| Elk Basin | 17.3 miles | 7 | |
| Badger Basin | 20.5 miles | 11 | |
| Lone Tree Crossing | 21.3 miles | 7 |
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 Powell | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1029174 | 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 1609143. 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.




