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Atomic City, Idaho

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1978. It stands in the Atomic City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 83221. The Survey maps it on the Atomic City quadrangle. 41 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,013 feet above sea level.

Atomic City within Bingham County

Population over time

2 figures

Atomic City grew from 29 to 41 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
201029
202041+12 (+41%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 9 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

19 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Atomic City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 24,259 acres in total. 6 started naturally. None was 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
Natural6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Equipment and vehicle use5
Firearms and explosives use1
Smoking1
Fireworks1

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
17 September 2000Naturalunder an acreIdaho Falls DistrictSIERRAGRND
8 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIdaho Falls DistrictWHITE TOP
31 August 2003Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresIdaho Falls District282 FIRE
3 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.4 acresIdaho Falls DistrictTABLE LEGS
27 August 2010Equipment and vehicle use14,058 acresIdaho Falls DistrictMIDDLE BUTTE
1 August 2009Naturalunder an acreIdaho Falls DistrictMIDDLE BUTTE
9 July 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined1,419 acresIdaho National LaboratoryHIGHWAY 20
8 July 2001Natural78 acresIdaho Falls DistrictBUTTE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bingham 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 Atomic City: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Bingham County

Storms near this place

35 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Atomic City in 35 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 25 thunderstorm wind, 4 flood, 2 tornado, 1 wildfire. 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
February 2017FloodAtomic City$917,000Sheet flooding from extensive snowmelt from excessive winter snow began early in the month and continued through the month. Several homes received extensive flooding damage mainly in the Shelley area. The depth of water in the sheet flooding reached as high as two feet in some areas. The worst of the flooding was from the 7th through the 15th. Ferry Butte and Riverton Roads had to be closed. In the Shelley area also the roadway on 1200 N between 1150 E and 1200 E and from 1200 E to 1150 N also had to be closed. Further flooding occurred after the 20th with several road closures in Aberdeen, Blackfoot, Shelley and Springfield. A County disaster declaration was declared for the county as well.
March 2017FloodAtomic City$215,000Sheet flooding from snow melt continued throughout March though there was a significant improvement over February. On March 16th significant road damage and roads washed out were reported in Taber. The main issue was road damage and some property damage that continued to run up the monetary damage. Some roads remained closed through the first two weeks of March in Aberdeen, Blackfoot, Shelley, and Springfield.
May 2017FloodAtomic City$33,000Minor flooding continued in Bingham County in May but the worst was over. Some fields remained covered in water early in the month causing some agricultural damage with levee repair work done.
June 2017FloodAtomic City$15,000Minor flooding continued the first part of June with agricultural damage continuing along with west nile mosquito control due to ponding water.
May 2018Tornado (EF1)Atomic City$300A tornado crossed portions of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) around East and Middle Buttes to the north and east across US 20 (including near the MFC facilities) between 400 and 430 pm MDT. Due to sparseness of population and terrain, the only damage observed was at mile marker 277 on US Highway 20 at approximately 419 pm MDT. At this point, large sections of 2 snow fences were heavily damaged Multiple steel beems were bent and twisted to varying degrees, with portions of those beems that were below the surface and moved approximately one inch. The horizontal part of these fences, make of vinyl and steel cable, were ripped apart and strewn for several yards. Large metal pieces used to hold these together were snapped and/or thrown several yards away from the fence. Other indications of tornado damage included a sign snapped off at the ground, sagebrush that was partially or completely ripped from the ground, and several small size lava rocks tossed an unknown distance. ||Based on that evidence, the tornado was assigned an EF-1 rating.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-The EBR INL Materials Fuels Complex mesonet site recorded a 61 mph wind gust.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-A 58 mph wind gust was recorded at Atomic City.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-A 60 mph thunderstorm outflow wind measured at the INL Materials Fuels Complex.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-A 58 mph thunderstorm outflow wind measured at Telegraph Hill ITD site.
September 2021Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-Sixty five mph wind gust 11 miles west southwest of Atomic City.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-A 61 mph wind gust at Atomic City.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-A 63 mph wind gust measured at Telegraph Hill.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-Seventy mph wind gust at Atomic City.
April 2018Funnel CloudAtomic City-Funnel cloud viewed by NWS employee southwest of Atomic City.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-The Atomic City ARL site recorded a 68 mph wind gust.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-A thunderstorm produced a 62 mph wind gust at the Materials Fuels ARL mesonet site.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-A 65 mph wind gust measured at Atomic City.
October 2016Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-Atomic City mesonet reported 64 mph wind gust.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-Atomic City INL site recorded 62 mph wind gust.
August 2014Heavy RainAtomic City-Bingham County was declared a natural disaster area by the USDA due to barley crop loss in August from heavy rains. Eastern Idaho lost about 64 million dollars of barley crops due to the rains with a portion of that occurring in Bingham County.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-The ITD site at the INL Puzzle recorded a thunderstorm wind gust of 65 mph.
April 2012Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-Fifty-nine mph wind gust measured at Atomic City.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-A 58 mph wind gust was recorded in northeast Bingham County at a weather site at the Idaho National Laboratory.
October 2006Tornado (F0)Atomic City-Tornado touched down 2 miles southwest of Atomic City in open land picking up sage brush. The tornado continued into Butte County.
May 2008HailAtomic City-no account filed
March 2006Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-no account filed
March 2006Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-no account filed
March 2006Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-no account filed
May 2004Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-no account filed
July 2004Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-no account filed
July 2004Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindAtomic City-no account filed
July 1999WildfireAtomic City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Bingham 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
Cerro Grande6.4 miles9
Taber10.9 miles9
Fullmer12.1 miles9
Olsen15.0 miles9
Havens16.8 miles9
Coffee Point21.5 miles9
Rockford23.0 miles10
Rouse23.2 miles12

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 Atomic CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q757596The 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 397396. 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.