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Lake San Marcos, California

40 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Oceanside-Escondido census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92078. It lies near Los Vallecitos. The Survey maps it on the San Marcos quadrangle. 5,328 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 525 feet above sea level.

Lake San Marcos within San Diego County

Then and now

1893 to 1996

The same ground, surveyed 103 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 San Marcos, surveyed 1996
Topographic sheet of Lake San Marcos, surveyed 1893

Compare 1893 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Lake San Marcos grew from 4,437 to 5,328 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
20104,437
20205,328+891 (+20%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

16 surveys from 40 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

239 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 239 fires within 5 miles of Lake San Marcos between 1992 and 2020, burning about 7,909 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 27 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/undetermined121
Equipment and vehicle use58
Arson/incendiarism27
Misuse of fire by a minor11
Smoking7
Recreation and ceremony6
Debris and open burning3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Natural2
Railroad operations and maintenance1
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 1996Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Diego UnitELISO
8 September 1995Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSan Diego UnitWINTERHAVEN
7 September 2005Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Diego UnitHARMONY
4 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 September 2013Equipment and vehicle use6.3 acresSan Diego UnitHARMONY
3 September 2011Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSan Diego Unitnot named
3 September 1997Equipment and vehicle use1.5 acresSan Diego UnitHORIZON

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Diego County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 22 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 22 workings within 5 miles of Lake San Marcos: 13 past producers, 3 prospects, 3 producers, 2 occurrences. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay, Copper, Granite. 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
EncinitasCopper, LeadPast ProducerVein
Kelly Ranch MineStone, DimensionPast Producer
Palagonite DepositAluminumOccurrence
San Marcos QuarrySand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Encinitas MineCopperPast Producer
Escondido Quarries, Inc.GraniteProducer
Escondido Quarries, Inc.GranitePast Producer
San Marcos PitGraniteProducer
Unnamed DepositCopperOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectCopperProspect

Every working recorded in San Diego County

Storms near this place

4 since 2017

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lake San Marcos in 4 storm reports between 2017 and 2021: 4 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
February 2017FloodLake San Marcos$10,000Street flooding was reported in San Marcos with at least one car submerged.
January 2021FloodLake San Marcos-Via Vera Cruz closed between Discovery Street and W. San Marcos Blvd through riverbed.
December 2021FloodLake San Marcos-Heavy rain at St. Mark golf club reported on twitter. 1.34 inches of rainfall measured with pictures of flooded golf course and parking lots.
April 2020FloodLake San Marcos-NWS Employee reports flooding at W San Marcos Blvd at Discovery Street.

Every storm recorded in San Diego 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
San Marcos2.5 miles40
Buena3.3 miles40
Ocean Hills3.6 miles48
La Costa3.9 miles50
Richland4.1 miles40
Elfin Forest4.3 miles43
Harmony Grove4.4 miles43
Twin Oaks5.0 miles40

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 San MarcosAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3008146The 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 1660879. 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.