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Ideal, Georgia

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Ideal census division. It lies in ZIP code area 31041. It stands on Sand Creek. The Survey maps it on the Ideal South quadrangle. 407 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 482 feet above sea level.

Ideal within Macon County

Population over time

3 figures

Ideal fell from 518 to 407 between 2000 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
2000518
2010499-19 (-4%)
2020407-92 (-18%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 7 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

192 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 192 fires within 5 miles of Ideal between 1992 and 2020, burning about 838 acres in total. 10 started naturally. 24 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
Debris and open burning100
Equipment and vehicle use25
Arson/incendiarism24
Railroad operations and maintenance12
Natural10
Missing data/not specified/undetermined10
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Smoking5
Recreation and ceremony1

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 2016Recreation and ceremony30 acresGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2017-MACON-006
8 September 2007Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
7 September 2010Debris and open burning3.2 acresGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2011-MACON-002
7 September 1994Arson/incendiarismunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 2011Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2012-MACON-005
4 September 1999Debris and open burning1.4 acresGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
30 September 2008Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
28 September 2006Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Macon County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Ideal: 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Aluminum. 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
Unnamed OutcropAluminumOccurrence

Every working recorded in Macon County

Storms near this place

14 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ideal in 14 storm reports between 1997 and 2026: 8 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 flood, 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
March 2026Thunderstorm WindIdeal$10,000Emergency manager reports numerous trees downed in an around the town of Ideal.
February 2019Tornado (EF0)Ideal$10,000A National Weather Service survey team found that an EF0 tornado with maximum winds of 75 mph and a maximum path width of 200 yards occurred in western Macon County. The tornado touched down on the southwest side of the town of Ideal on Brooks Road travelling east along the road snapping or uprooting several trees along the road before lifting around Tom Watson Avenue. A small shed had most if its tin walls and roof removed and tossed nearly 200 yards away. No injuries were reported. [02/12/19: Tornado #4, County #1/1, EF-0, Macon, 2019:004].
July 2016Thunderstorm WindIdeal$8,000The Macon County 911 center reported multiple trees blown down across the county from around Ideal along Highway 90 north of town and Highway 240 south of town to north of Oglethorpe along Highway 128.
September 1998Thunderstorm WindIdeal$5,000Reports from the Macon county sheriff's office and newspaper accounts indicated trees were downed in the west part of Macon county. A car was reported damaged by a falling tree.
December 2009FloodIdeal$3,000The Macon County Emergency Management Director reported minor flooding of some roads and property across the county, mostly adjacent to overflowing creeks and streams. Monetary damage was confined to minor debris removal in these areas.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindIdeal$2,000The Macon County 911 center reported multiple trees blown down just north of Ideal.
April 2011Thunderstorm WindIdeal$2,000The Macon County 911 Center reported that at least 10 trees were down across the county.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindIdeal$2,000The Macon County 911 center reported that a number of trees had been blown down.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindIdeal$1,000One tree was reported down on Hoke Smith Avenue in Ideal.
November 1997Thunderstorm WindIdeal$500Macon county 911 reported two trees were knocked down on power lines.
April 2006HailIdeal-The regional 911 center for Macon county relayed a report of nickel-sized hail or larger.
April 2005HailIdeal-The Macon County 911 Center reported penny-sized hail.
April 1998HailIdeal-The Macon county sheriff's office reported 1 inch hail.
April 1998HailIdeal-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Macon 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
Bartlett4.5 miles8
Garden Valley6.1 miles8
Fountainville6.2 miles7
Oglethorpe8.5 miles8
Hicks9.2 miles8
Cutoff9.6 miles8
Montezuma9.6 miles8
Barrons Lane10.2 miles8

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 IdealAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2535821The 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 356328. 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.