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Morro Bay, California

36 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the North Coast census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93442. It stands on Little Morro Creek. The Survey maps it on the Morro Bay South quadrangle. 10,757 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 62 feet above sea level.

Morro Bay within San Luis Obispo County

Then and now

1897 to 1998

The same ground, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Morro Bay, surveyed 1998
Topographic sheet of Morro Bay, surveyed 1897

Compare 1897 against another survey:

On record in Morro Bay

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Morro Bay grew from 10,234 to 10,757 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
201010,234
202010,757+523 (+5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 surveys from 36 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

109 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 109 fires within 5 miles of Morro Bay between 1992 and 2020, burning about 195 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 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/undetermined58
Equipment and vehicle use24
Debris and open burning11
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Arson/incendiarism4
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Smoking2
Recreation and ceremony1
Firearms and explosives use1

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
5 September 2020Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitEMS3CDF/
29 September 1993Equipment and vehicle use4.0 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitP.G.& E.
23 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitDORIS AV LOS_OSOS 4
21 September 2010Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitCUESTA
21 September 2010Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitGILARDI
2 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.7 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitSANDALWOOD AVE MB
2 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitMORRO
2 September 1996Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitHIGHLAND,LOS OSOS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 32 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 32 workings within 5 miles of Morro Bay: 14 past producers, 8 prospects, 6 producers, 4 occurrences. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper, Chromium, Manganese. 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
Arrisa MineGypsum-AnhydriteProducerSedimentary
Guerra QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Kester ProspectManganeseOccurrence
Kester ProspectManganeseOccurrence
Morro Rock QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Rodrigues PitStoneProducer
Unnamed QuarryStonePast Producer
Cienaga MineChromiumProducerChromite
Cienaga MineChromiumProspect
Mable G MineChromiumPast Producer

Every working recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Storms near this place

2 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Morro Bay in 2 storm reports in 1998: 1 funnel cloud, 1 waterspout. 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
April 1998Funnel CloudMorro Bay-A spotter in the Morro Bay area reported a funnel cloud.
February 1998WaterspoutMorro Bay-An observer at Morro Bay reported a waterspout two miles north of Morro Rock.

Every storm recorded in San Luis Obispo 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
Baywood Park2.8 miles36
Cuesta-by-the-Sea3.3 miles36
Los Osos3.9 miles36
Cayucos5.8 miles32
Goldtree9.4 miles31
Chorro9.5 miles31
Serrano10.6 miles31
Thyle11.6 miles31

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 Morro BayAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q605491The 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 1661062. 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.