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Novato, California

24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1914 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Novato census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94945. It stands on Vineyard Creek. The Survey maps it on the Novato quadrangle. 53,225 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 30 feet above sea level.

Novato within Marin County

Then and now

1914 to 1983

The same ground, surveyed 69 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Novato, surveyed 1983
Topographic sheet of Novato, surveyed 1914

On record in Novato

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Novato grew from 51,904 to 53,225 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
201051,904
202053,225+1,321 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 24 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

117 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 117 fires within 5 miles of Novato between 1992 and 2020, burning about 58 acres in total. None started naturally. 15 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/undetermined80
Arson/incendiarism15
Equipment and vehicle use9
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Smoking4
Recreation and ceremony1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
8 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMarin County Fire Departmentnot named
6 September 1997Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitSTAGE GULCH
5 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
28 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
28 September 2005Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Marin County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 18 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Novato: 8 unknowns, 5 occurrences, 4 producers, 1 past producer. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Manganese, Stone, Dimension. 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 PointSand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Freeman and SondgrothFlagstoneProducer
Ghilotti Bros. - Marin Co.Stone, DimensionProducer
Negro HillStoneOccurrence
KnutteManganeseProducerPsilomelane
Knutte DepositManganeseUnknown1942
Black PointStone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
SandpitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
SandpitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Marin County

Storms near this place

3 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Novato in 3 storm reports between 1998 and 2014: 3 flash 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
December 2014Flash FloodNovato$4,000,000Heavy rainfall produced significant rises on Novato Creek between highways 101 and 37 on the east side of the city of Novato. This led to an intentional breach of the levee on a 20 foot section to prevent floodwaters from reaching downtown businesses and nearby subdivisions. This same flooding also resulted in failure of a smaller portion of the levee and overtopped another section. Caltrans levees on highway 37 were breached and a culvert was washed out.
February 1998Flash FloodNovato-Novato Creek
February 1998Flash FloodNovato-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Marin 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
Old Town0.8 miles24
Rafael Village2.9 miles24
Ignacio3.1 miles24
Dewitt3.2 miles24
Bel Marin Keys3.4 miles24
Black Point3.4 miles24
Burdell3.5 miles25
Marinwood5.1 miles24

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 NovatoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q851004The 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 277612. 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.