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Surprise, Arizona

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Phoenix census division. It lies in ZIP code area 85378. The Survey maps it on the Calderwood Butte quadrangle. 143,148 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,175 feet above sea level.

Surprise within Maricopa County

Population over time

2 figures

Surprise grew from 117,517 to 143,148 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
2010117,517
2020143,148+25,631 (+22%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 20 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

578 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 578 fires within 5 miles of Surprise between 1992 and 2020, burning about 88 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 21 were 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined531
Arson/incendiarism21
Equipment and vehicle use9
Natural6
Power generation/transmission/distribution5
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Smoking2
Other causes1
Debris and open burning1

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
9 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeAZ-110821
6 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreEl Mirage Fire DepartmentNOT NAMED
6 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSun City Fire DepartmentNOT NAMED
6 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeAZ-133152
4 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreEl Mirage Fire Department3065
4 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeAZ-111961
4 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeAZ-111960
30 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSun City Fire Departmentnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Maricopa County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Surprise: 4 producers, 2 past producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Halite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Agua Fria Pit Sun Valley CrushingSand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unidentified Halite OccurrenceHalitePast ProducerHalite
Arizona Sand & Rock, Agua Fria PlanSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Sun City PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Union Rock & Materials, El MirageSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
United Metro Pit & Plant #2 GlendalSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Maricopa County

Storms near this place

3 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Surprise in 3 storm reports between 1996 and 2009: 1 funnel cloud, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. 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
May 2009LightningSurprise$200,000Lightning was blamed on starting a house fire in Surprise.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindSurprise-Winds damaged trees tearing off branches along Bell Road from Grand Ave to McMicken Dam, and a tree downed on Parkview Place south of Grand. Electrical power disrupted to homes in Happy Trails and Arizona Traditions.
July 1996Funnel CloudSurprise-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Maricopa 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
Lizard0.7 miles20
Dysart (historical)1.2 miles19
Lizard Acres1.2 miles20
Goldbadge1.4 miles19
Agua Fria2.0 miles19
Sun City West2.2 miles20
White Tanks2.6 miles19
Youngtown3.0 miles19

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 SurpriseAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q51687The 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 12009. 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.