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Lake Isabella, California

28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1978. It stands in the Lake Isabella census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93240. It lies near Hot Spring Valley. The Survey maps it on the Lake Isabella South quadrangle. 3,573 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,513 feet above sea level.

Lake Isabella within Kern County

Then and now

1906 to 1978

The same ground, surveyed 72 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Lake Isabella, surveyed 1978
Topographic sheet of Lake Isabella, surveyed 1906

Population over time

2 figures

Lake Isabella grew from 3,466 to 3,573 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
20103,466
20203,573+107 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 28 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

440 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 440 fires within 5 miles of Lake Isabella between 1992 and 2020, burning about 62,448 acres in total. 20 started naturally. 26 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/undetermined184
Recreation and ceremony54
Equipment and vehicle use43
Misuse of fire by a minor41
Arson/incendiarism26
Power generation/transmission/distribution23
Natural20
Fireworks17
Debris and open burning16
Smoking15
Other causes1

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 2001Misuse of fire by a minor1.0 acresSequoia National ForestAUXILLARY
9 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCentral California DistrictUNNAMED FIRE 1069
8 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSequoia National ForestLAKE
7 September 1998Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSequoia National ForestGULCH
6 September 2012Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSequoia National ForestHUNGRY
6 September 2010Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSequoia National ForestHUNGRY
6 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCentral California DistrictUNNAMED FIRE 0193
6 September 1999Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreCentral California DistrictUNNAMED FIRE 0950

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Kern County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 68 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 68 workings within 5 miles of Lake Isabella: 33 past producers, 11 occurrences, 10 prospects, 9 producers. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Tungsten, Copper, Uranium. 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
Black JackLead, ZincPast ProducerReplacement
Black JackZinc, Lead, TinProducer
Black JackLead, ZincPast Producer
Cook Peak DepositStone, DimensionPast Producer
Erskine Creek DepositsLimestone, GeneralOccurrence
Isabella Readimix PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
French GulchGold, SilverPast Producer
Last Chance ProspectUranium, TungstenProspect
Pioneer Nos. 1 and 2Gold, SilverPast Producer
Utopia ClaimsUraniumOccurrence

Every working recorded in Kern County

Storms near this place

25 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lake Isabella in 25 storm reports between 1997 and 2019: 7 wildfire, 6 heavy rain, 4 hail, 3 flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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
August 1998WildfireLake Isabella1 hurt, $1,000,000no account filed
June 2003WildfireLake Isabella$800,000The Sawmill fire at Dutch Flat consumed 536 acres and burned 4 primary residences and 6 outbuildings. There were no fatalities on the fire that cost $800K to combat.
July 2003WildfireLake Isabella$650,000The China Fire within Sequoia National Forest burned approximately 819 acres in the Kern River Canyon southwest of Lake Isabella. The fire was lightning caused but no structures or lives were lost. The fire was 85% contained at the end of July having burned 509 acres at that time. This fire was the largest of approximately fourteen forest and grass fires started due to lightning around this time period around this area of Kern County.
January 2017FloodLake Isabella$150,000California Highway Patrol reported Lynch Canyon Road with 1 to 2 inches of roadway flooding near State Route 178 in Mountain Mesa.
September 2003HailLake Isabella$15,000no account filed
August 1998Thunderstorm WindLake Isabella$5,000no account filed
January 2019FloodLake Isabella-California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding on Joshua St. in South Lake.
September 2018Heavy RainLake Isabella-A slow moving thunderstorm produced 1.07 inches of rainfall at Lake Isabella between 330 pm PDT and 430 pm PDT.
December 2016Heavy RainLake Isabella-Spotter 24 hour rainfall report of 2.50 inches.
December 2016Heavy RainLake Isabella-Trained spotter reports rainfall report of 2.50 inches near Mountain Mesa.
February 2014Heavy RainLake Isabella-Heavy rainfall in Lake Isabella.
August 2003WildfireLake Isabella-The China Fire started in July and was contained late in the day on August 4th...see July Stormdata.
June 2003WildfireLake Isabella-The Royce fire origination was unknown but it destroyed 2 outbuildings and the cost to combat was undetermined. There were no fatalities.
July 2003WildfireLake Isabella-The Point Fire was fought by Sequoia National Forest and burned 180 acres. The cause and cost is unknown but no structures or lives were lost.
August 2000LightningLake Isabella-Overhead thunderstorm had a lightning strike that started a small fire east of Lake Isabella. The Kern County Fire Department responded to 13 lightning caused blazes in the Extreme Southern Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountain area between 1 to 4 AM.
May 1999FloodLake Isabella-Thunderstorm activity was prevalent over the mountains of the Southern Sierra Nevada, especially in the vicinity of Lake Isabella in Kern County. A thunderstorm brought locally heavy rain to Onyx, 14 miles east of Lake Isabella, by 1526 PDT but no reports of problems. However, heavy rain in a thunderstorm at 1711 PDT brought local flooding to areas just south of the town of Lake Isabella.
September 1997HailLake Isabella-Report of this severe thunderstorm was delayed until the next day but hail size was reported by long-time observers at Mountain Mesa (4 miles east of the town of Lake Isabella)
September 1997WildfireLake Isabella-The Thornton Wildfire in the Sequoia National Forest caused by a lightning strike approximately 5 miles southeast of Lake Isabella. Cost figures unavailable but it burned 150 acres.
August 2005HailLake Isabella-no account filed
August 2005HailLake Isabella-no account filed
August 2003Heavy RainLake Isabella-no account filed
August 2003Flash FloodLake Isabella-no account filed
August 2003Flash FloodLake Isabella-no account filed
August 2003Heavy RainLake Isabella-no account filed
August 2000LightningLake Isabella-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Kern 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
Scovern Hot Springs (historical)0.2 miles28
Keyesville2.1 miles25
Bodfish2.3 miles28
Isabella (historical)2.7 miles28
Squirrel Mountain Valley3.4 miles28
Mountain Mesa3.9 miles28
Miracle Hot Springs (historical)4.4 miles24
South Lake5.8 miles28

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 Lake IsabellaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2495360The 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 1652739. 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.