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Desoto Lakes, Florida

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1947 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Sarasota census division. It lies in ZIP code area 34235. The Survey maps it on the Bee Ridge quadrangle. 2,137 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 30 feet above sea level.

Desoto Lakes within Sarasota County

Then and now

1947 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 41 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Desoto Lakes, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Desoto Lakes, surveyed 1947

Population over time

2 figures

Desoto Lakes fell from 3,646 to 2,137 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
20103,646
20202,137-1,509 (-41%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 13 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

63 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 63 fires within 5 miles of Desoto Lakes between 1992 and 2017, burning about 289 acres in total. 12 started naturally. 2 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
Equipment and vehicle use13
Natural12
Misuse of fire by a minor11
Railroad operations and maintenance7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Debris and open burning6
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Recreation and ceremony2
Arson/incendiarism2
Smoking1

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
1 September 2017Arson/incendiarismunder an acreFlorida Forest ServiceUNIVERSITY DESOTO (58)
5 August 2009Natural4.0 acresFlorida Forest Service58-RICHARDSON FIRE-0467
19 August 1993Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
7 July 1994Natural4.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
25 July 2003Natural2.0 acresFlorida Forest ServiceHONORE FIRE
19 July 1993Misuse of fire by a minor25 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
15 July 1995Natural2.5 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
15 July 1995Natural20 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sarasota County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Desoto Lakes: 5 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 plant. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Dolomite, Phosphorus-Phosphates, 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
Brown Road PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Newburn PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Piney Point Nu-GulfPhosphorus-PhosphatesPlant
Sarasota Dolomite QuarryDolomiteOccurrence
Gator Asphalt Paving Reclaimed Concrete OperationLimestone, GeneralProducerLimestone
Quality Aggregates - Richardson Rd. PitLimestone, GeneralProducerLimestone
Quality Aggregates - University Park MineLimestone, GeneralProducerLimestone

Every working recorded in Sarasota County

Storms near this place

2 since 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Desoto Lakes in 2 storm reports between 2012 and 2022: 1 heavy rain, 1 tornado. 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
October 2012Heavy RainDesoto Lakes$140,000A relatively small rain shower developed over Interstate 75 near Sarasota, lowering visibility and reducing traction on the road. As a result, a 47 car pileup ensued as cars entering the shower did not have enough distance ahead of them to stop. A total of 52 patients were treated for minor injuries, included 19 taken to area hospitals. Total damage of $140,000 was calculated by conservatively estimating $3,000 per vehicle.
May 2022Tornado (EFU)Desoto Lakes-Broadcast media shared multiple public videos received of brief tornado touchdown near Desoto Lakes with no damage reported.

Every storm recorded in Sarasota 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
Kensington Park0.9 miles13
Beverley Terrace0.9 miles14
The Meadows1.3 miles13
Desoto Acres1.5 miles14
North Sarasota1.5 miles14
Belspur2.8 miles13
Pinecraft3.2 miles13
Sarasota3.2 miles14

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 Desoto LakesAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2570514The 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 1867135. 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.