Van Tassell, Wyoming
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the East Niobrara census division. It lies in ZIP code area 82242. It stands on Van Tassell Creek. The Survey maps it on the Van Tassell quadrangle. 22 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,741 feet above sea level.
On record in Van Tassell
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 1 record
Population over time
2 figuresVan Tassell grew from 15 to 22 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 | 15 | |
| 2020 | 22 | +7 (+47%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 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.
- 1954 USGS Torrington quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Torrington quadrangle1:250000
- 1977 USGS Van Tassell quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Lusk quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
2 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Van Tassell between 1996 and 2010, burning about 10 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 July 2010 | Natural | 4.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 1 April 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Wyoming State Forestry | not named |
Storms near this place
13 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Van Tassell in 13 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 6 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Van Tassell | $1,500,000 | As much as eight inches of rain fell from slow moving thunderstorms across south and southeast Niobrara County during the predawn hours, which resulted in widespread flash flooding. Excessive runoff upstream into the Niobrara River and nearby creeks caused them to overflow their banks. Law enforcement officials evacuated residents of Lusk as well as those living along the Niobrara River downstream to Van Tassel several hours in advance of the flood wave. The worst damage occurred in Lusk where 20 to 30 homes and 15 to 20 businesses were destroyed. Flood waters and debris rushed down Main Street in Lusk, swamped four blocks, and shut down the town's water supply. The US Highway 85 bridge on the north side of Lusk collapsed onto the railroad tracks below. Flash flooding closed a 20-mile stretch of US Highway 20 from Lusk to the Nebraska border, US Highway 85 from Lusk to the Goshen County line, and a 35-mile stretch of Highway 270 from Manville north to Lance Creek. WYDOT closed traffic into and out of Lusk, except for residents and emergency responders. Various state agencies, including the Red Cross and Wyoming National Guard, assisted in the flood cleanup efforts. A local command center was established at the Lusk Fairgrounds with water, food and shelter. The governor declared a state of emergency for Niobrara County. Fortunately, there were no injuries or fatalities. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Van Tassell | - | WYDOT mesonet station along US Highway 20 near Van Tassell (WY60) reported wind gust. |
| June 2023 | Hail | Van Tassell | - | Trained weather spotters observed quarter sized hail 3 miles NNE of Van Tassel. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Van Tassell | - | Wyoming Department of Transportation sensor along United States Highway 20 at Van Tassell measured the outflow winds from the thunderstorm to its east. |
| May 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Van Tassell | - | Wyoming Department of Transportation sensor three miles west of Van Tassell along United States Highway 20 measured the reported thunderstorm wind gust. |
| May 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Van Tassell | - | Wyoming Department of Transportation sensor located roughly three and a half miles from Van Tassell measured the reported wind speed. |
| July 2013 | Hail | Van Tassell | - | Golf ball size hail was reported north of Van Tassel. |
| May 2010 | Hail | Van Tassell | - | Trained spotter estimated hail of 1 inch in diameter fell with the storm. |
| May 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Van Tassell | - | A brief tornado moved east across Highway 20 near Van Tassel before moving back up into the clouds. |
| June 2020 | Hail | Van Tassell | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Van Tassell | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Hail | Van Tassell | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Van Tassell | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kirtley | 11.7 miles | 7 | |
| Whitman | 15.6 miles | 7 | |
| Lusk | 20.5 miles | 7 | |
| Hat Creek (historical) | 24.2 miles | 7 | |
| Manville | 29.2 miles | 7 | |
| Keeline | 36.0 miles | 7 | |
| Lance Creek | 38.9 miles | 5 | |
| Redbird | 41.4 miles | 5 |
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 Van Tassell | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1029868 | 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 1595915. 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.




