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Mendota, California

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1923 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Mendota census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93640. The Survey maps it on the Firebaugh quadrangle. 12,595 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 174 feet above sea level.

Mendota within Fresno County

Then and now

1923 to 1982

The same ground, surveyed 59 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Mendota, surveyed 1982
Topographic sheet of Mendota, surveyed 1923

Population over time

2 figures

Mendota grew from 11,014 to 12,595 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
201011,014
202012,595+1,581 (+14%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 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

448 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 448 fires within 5 miles of Mendota between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,973 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 88 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/undetermined206
Arson/incendiarism88
Equipment and vehicle use58
Debris and open burning37
Smoking26
Misuse of fire by a minor25
Recreation and ceremony4
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Natural1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFresno-Kings UnitPUCHEU ST MENDOTA
9 September 2019Equipment and vehicle use39 acresFresno-Kings UnitOLLER ST / 9TH ST
8 September 2006Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreFresno-Kings UnitFOURTH
7 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionBRIDGE
7 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2008Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreFresno-Kings UnitFOURTH
6 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionWHITESBRIDGE
6 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionHWY 180 / BELMONT AVE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Fresno County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Mendota: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Calcium, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Mendota PlantCalciumProducer
San Joaquin River PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Fresno County

Storms near this place

12 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mendota in 12 storm reports between 1996 and 2019: 4 flood, 3 heavy rain, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. 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
September 2017Thunderstorm WindMendota$30,000Media posted video showing 30 power lines downed in Mendota from a microburst.
March 1996FloodMendota$25,000no account filed
March 2019Tornado (EF0)Mendota$20,000NWS Storm Survey determined an EF0 tornado estimated at 70 mph with a path length of 300 yards and a width of 10 yards damaged three roofs between Valenzuela St. and the corner of San Pedro St. and Oxnard St. The time was confirmed from residents videos shared with NWS.
March 1997HailMendota$20,000no account filed
March 2008Thunderstorm WindMendota$10,000A trained spotter reported damage to his antenna due to thunderstorm winds.
November 2003Heavy RainMendota$10,000no account filed
May 2016Heavy RainMendota-Twitter report received of flooding in Mendota with report of 1 inch rainfall around 1815 PST.
February 1998FloodMendota-Runoff from Panoche/Silver Creek began to arrive at Mendota but damage was minimized by use of ditches and channelling through town.
March 2006LightningMendota-no account filed
March 2005Heavy RainMendota-no account filed
March 2001FloodMendota-no account filed
January 1997FloodMendota-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Fresno 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
Arbios1.8 miles20
Cromir4.1 miles20
Benito5.5 miles20
Ingle7.0 miles18
Firebaugh8.3 miles20
Fresno City (historical)9.0 miles18
Levis9.1 miles17
Jamesan9.4 miles18

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 MendotaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q984601The 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 1656159. 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.