BlockBefore

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.

Van Tassell within Niobrara County

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 figures

Van 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.

YearPeople Change
201015
202022+7 (+47%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 7 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

2 since 1996

Regional 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
Natural1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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
30 July 2010Natural4.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
1 April 1996Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresWyoming State Forestrynot named

Every fire recorded in Niobrara County

Storms near this place

13 since 1996

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2015Flash FloodVan Tassell$1,500,000As 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 2024Thunderstorm WindVan Tassell-WYDOT mesonet station along US Highway 20 near Van Tassell (WY60) reported wind gust.
June 2023HailVan Tassell-Trained weather spotters observed quarter sized hail 3 miles NNE of Van Tassel.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindVan 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 2021Thunderstorm WindVan Tassell-Wyoming Department of Transportation sensor three miles west of Van Tassell along United States Highway 20 measured the reported thunderstorm wind gust.
May 2021Thunderstorm WindVan Tassell-Wyoming Department of Transportation sensor located roughly three and a half miles from Van Tassell measured the reported wind speed.
July 2013HailVan Tassell-Golf ball size hail was reported north of Van Tassel.
May 2010HailVan Tassell-Trained spotter estimated hail of 1 inch in diameter fell with the storm.
May 1998Tornado (F0)Van Tassell-A brief tornado moved east across Highway 20 near Van Tassel before moving back up into the clouds.
June 2020HailVan Tassell-no account filed
June 2010HailVan Tassell-no account filed
July 1996HailVan Tassell-no account filed
July 1996Thunderstorm WindVan Tassell-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Niobrara 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
Kirtley11.7 miles7
Whitman15.6 miles7
Lusk20.5 miles7
Hat Creek (historical)24.2 miles7
Manville29.2 miles7
Keeline36.0 miles7
Lance Creek38.9 miles5
Redbird41.4 miles5

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 TassellAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1029868The 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.