Needles

Needles is a city in San Bernardino County, California, in the Mojave Desert region of Southern California. The population was 4,959 at the 2020 census, up from 4,844 at the 2010 census. The city has a desert climate with a subtropical temperature range, with a mean annual temperature of 74.2 °F (23.4 °C) Needles, like Death Valley to the northwest, is known for extreme heat during the summer. Needles was a major stop on the historic U.S. Route 66 highway from the 1920s through the 1960s. The "Carty's Camp", which appears briefly in The Grapes of Wrath as the Joad family enters California from Arizona, is now a ghost tourist court, its remains located behind the 1940s-era 66 Motel. In the winter, temperatures are typically mild, with the coolest month having a mean temperature of 54.7 °C (39.6 °C), for a relative humidity of 0.33%. The lowest humidity on Earth in which rain has occurred on Earth has occurred in December, 2014, at 0.3%. Needles occasionally sets national or world daily temperature records, along with other related records associated with extreme desert heat. For instance, on July 22, 2006, Needles experienced a record high low temperature of 100°F (38°C) at 6:00 am with a high temperature exceeding 120°C (49°F) It is one of the few locations on Earth that have recorded a triple-digit overnight low temperature.

History

Needles is the primary city name, but also Havasu Lake are acceptable city names or spellings, Chemehuevi, Chemehuevi Valley on the other hand no longer accepted or obsolete and are no longer used as a designation. The official name is City of Needles. Needles was founded in May 1883 during the construction of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The railway originally crossed the Colorado River at Eastbridge, Arizona three miles southeast of modern Needles. Needles was named after "The Needles", a group of pinnacles in the Mohave Mountains on the Arizona side of the river. For migrants from the Midwest Dust Bowl in the 1930s, it was the first town that marked their arrival in California. The city is the eastern gateway to the Mojave National Preserve, a scenic desert area. It was a major stop on the historic U.S. Route 66 highway from the 1920s through the 1960s. The "Carty's Camp", which appears briefly in The Grapes of Wrath as the Joad family enters California from Arizona, is now a ghost tourist court, its remains located behind the 1940s-era 66 Motel. In 1949, the United States Bureau of Reclamation began an extensive project to dredge a new channel for the Colorado river that would straighten out a river bend that was causing serious silt problems since the Hoover Dam was completed. The old bridge was dismantled and replaced by Red Rock Bridge, a high cantilever bridge at a narrower point with solid rock footings ten miles downstream near today's Topock. The new bridge was completed in May 1890, and the old bridge had to be dismantled as well. The El Garces Hotel andSanta Fe Station in 1908 is on the National Register of Historic Places and is being restored.

Geography

Needles, like Death Valley to the northwest, is known for extreme heat during the summer. The city has a desert climate with a subtropical temperature range, with a mean annual temperature of 74.2 °F (23.4 °C) The city is also known for moderate to locally severe thunderstorms during the monsoon season as well as humid conditions. Snowfall is very rare in Needles, with the only month recording measurable snowfall being January 1949, when 15.2 in (38.6 cm) of snow fell. The wettest year was 1939 with 13.33 in (339 mm) of rainfall, and the driest was 2006 with 0.70 in (18 mm). The most rainfall in a calendar day was 3.49 in (89 mm) on August 19, 1906. Needles is served by the National Weather Service's NOAA Weather Radio operating on 162.50 MHz from the Las Vegas Nationalweather Service. It is one of the few locations on Earth that have recorded a triple-digit overnight low temperature. The hottest month, July, has a normal mean temperature of 98.5°F (36.9 °C). On average, there are 119 days annually with a maximum of 100 °F or higher, 175 days with a minimum of 32 °C or lower. There is an annual normal of 23 days with measurable precipitation, and there is a normal of 7.61 in (193 mm) in September 1939.

Demographics

The 2010 United States Census reported that Needles had a population of 4,844. The racial makeup of Needles was 3,669 (75.7%) White (65.4% Non-Hispanic White), 95 (2.0%) African American, 399 (8.2%) Native American, 35 (0.7) Asian, 9 (0.2) Pacific Islander, 323 (6.5%) from other races, and 5.6% from two or more races. The average household size was 2.5 and the average family size was 3.0. The city has a total area of 30.2 square miles (78 km²) 29.8 square miles of it is land and 0.4 sq km² of it (1.36%) is water. Major employment in the city is supported by the BNSF Railway (formerly the Santa Fe Railroad). The depot has been a terminal (crew change point) for the railway since the late 19th century. About 21.2% of families and 26.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 38. 2% of those under age 18 and 11.3% ofThose age 65 or over. The median income for a household in theCity was $26,108. Males had a median income of $39,688 versus $19,483 for females. The population density was 162.3 inhabitants per square mile (62.7/km²) The estimated population in July 2006: 5,330 (+10.4%).

Government

The City of Needles was incorporated on October 30, 1913. It is a charter city, led by an elected mayor and a city council with six elected members. In 2008, the city considered seceding from California and becoming part of neighboring Nevada, only a few miles away. Proposals to change states would require approval from the United States Congress and both state legislatures. In the California State Legislature, Needles is in the 16th Senate District, represented by Democrat Melissa Hurtado, and in the 33rd Assembly District,represented by Republican Thurston Smith. The city council also appoints a city manager who is responsible for the operation of city departments. As of January 2020, the current city manager is Rick Daniels. The council designates a vice mayor from among its members, and Needles has a mayor who is elected for a two-year term and a mayor for a four-year terms. The city is in California's 8th congressional district, represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by Republican Jay Obernolte. Needles also has a city attorney who is also a member of the city council, representing the city on the council's finance committee. In the city, the mayor and vice mayor are elected for two- year terms of office, and the city manager serves for four years. In 2010, the council appointed a city lawyer to serve as the city's city manager for the next four years, until the end of the current term.

Education

The Needles Unified School District is one of the largest in the United States. The district has almost 6,000 square miles (16,000 km²) in its boundaries. Needles High School is a member of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association. It is located in the town of Needles, California. It has a total of 1,158 students enrolled in its schools. It also has two private schools: Needles Assembly of God Christian School and the Needles Seventh-day Adventist School. The school district is part of the California School Activities Association, which also includes schools in Truckee, North Tahoe, South Tahoe and South Lake Tahoe. It was founded in 1872 and is the oldest school district in the U.S. to be part of this association. It dates back to the early 19th century, when it was known as 'The School of the Pioneers' It is now known as the 'Needles Unified High School' It was built in the 1950s and 1960s as a result of the growth of the town. The current school district was formed in the 1970s and 1980s, when the population of the area was around 2,000. It now has a population of about 1,000,000 (1,158 in Needles and 1,200 in the surrounding area). It is the largest district in California, and one of four in the state, along with the other four schools in the area, to which it is attached.

Infrastructure

Interstate 40, known locally as the Needles Freeway, is the major highway through Needles, connecting Barstow to the west and Arizona to the east. The Colorado River Bridge connects Needles directly with Mohave County, Arizona, and Arizona State Route 95. Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides daily service to Needles station, operating its Southwest Chief between Chicago and Los Angeles. Needles Area Transit provides local transit service to the area. Colorado Medical Center was once a full service hospital but at present it's functioning as an urgent care center. The City of Needles has been patrolled by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department under the command of Captain Ross Tarangle since December 1989. On July 1, 2016, San. Bernardino County Fire Department annexed the City ofneedles. The station is staffed full-time with career firefighters and houses two Type 1 Engine companies, one Type 7 Engine company, one Water Tender and one 28 foot fireboat. The Needles Patrol Station is located in the center of the city and is manned by Captain Tarangle. The city has a population of 2,000, with the majority of residents living in the eastern part of the town. The town is located on the eastern edge of the San Francisco Bay Area, near the California/Nevada border. It is located near Lake Havasu City and Las Vegas, Nevada, and is on the border of the Mojave Desert and the San Diego National Forest. It was once the site of the largest U.S. uranium mine.

In popular culture

The town is mentioned in the lyrics of Hoyt Axton's "Never Been to Spain"; the song was a hit for Three Dog Night in 1972 and was also performed by Elvis. Snoopy's brother Spike lived in the desert outside Needles. Needles was the main site of a 2009 UFO Hunters episode investigating a supposed UFO Crash. In late 2000 to early 2001, skateboarder Tony Hawk donated $20,000 to the Needles Skate Park, which is still in use today. In October 2006, two students and two teachers from Needles High School were invited to Washington, D.C. to meet with the Under Secretary of Defense. The students were also interviewed for the nationwide, fifteen-minute television news show, Channel One News; the episode was aired on October 25.Needles (and the surrounding area) was the scene for the hit 1988 post-apocalyptic computer RPG Wasteland. In 2004, former guitarist for Marilyn Manson, released his CD Vertigo, in which the first track is entitled "Needles CA". In 2009 the song "Don't Look Down" by Barnaby Bright includes the following: We pulled into a truck stop Somewhere just outside of Needles, California, You asked me for ten bucks and I said "What about the last ten bucks I loaned you?" The town was featured in the film "Wizard of Waverly Place" which was based on the book "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Needles, San Bernardino County, California = 1. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 48. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Needles = 5.7 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 12,944 individuals with a median age of 35.4 age the population grows by 10.31% in Needles, San Bernardino County, California population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 162.73 residents per square mile of area (62.83/km²). There are average 2.53 people per household in the 2,097 households with an average household income of $34,230 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 14.00% of the available work force and has dropped -6.49% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 13.02%. The number of physicians in Needles per 100,000 population = 133.8.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Needles = 4.6 inches and the annual snowfall = 0.3 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 23. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 281. 109 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 41.8 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 26, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Needles, San Bernardino County, California which are owned by the occupant = 43.12%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 36 years with median home cost = $84,550 and home appreciation of 0.00%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $9.16 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $5,483 per student. There are 21.8 students for each teacher in the school. 5.57% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 4.81% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 4.60% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).