Alden, Michigan

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Helena Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49612. It stands on Spencer Creek. The Survey maps it on the Alden quadrangle.

Alden within Antrim County

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 12 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.

1954 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
1957 USGS Elk Rapids quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1958 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1983 USGS Alden quadrangle1:24000
1983 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
1989 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000

Fires near this place

52 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 52 fires within 5 miles of Alden between 1992 and 2020, burning about 81 acres in total. 5 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
Debris and open burning	20
Equipment and vehicle use	13
Natural	5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4
Misuse of fire by a minor	4
Power generation/transmission/distribution	2
Smoking	2
Recreation and ceremony	2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
31 August 2019	Equipment and vehicle use	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	MILTON TOWNSHIP FD 0000108 - 2019
22 August 1992	Equipment and vehicle use	8.5 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	not named
21 July 2005	Equipment and vehicle use	1.6 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	not named
10 July 2001	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	not named
5 June 1992	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	not named
23 June 2020	Smoking	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	SOUTH TORCH LAKE FD 94 - 2020
19 June 2019	Natural	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	CLEARWATER TOWNSHIP FD 1920635 - 2019
18 June 2020	Recreation and ceremony	1.6 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	ANTRIM 07 - HONEY GAMS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Antrim County

Storms near this place

9 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alden in 9 storm reports between 1999 and 2021: 6 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 hail, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
August 2021	Flash Flood	Alden	1 hurt, $325,000	Alden highway completely washed out near Comfort Rd. Two vehicles fell into road wash out causing injury to 1 person. Multiple other road sections washed throughout county.
August 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Alden	$28,000	Pockets of trees and power lines downed in many parts of Antrim County, but especially in the south half of the county.
September 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Alden	$21,000	Several large trees were downed, one of which crushed a vehicle. Crystal Springs Road was blocked by downed trees.
May 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Alden	$10,000	Numerous trees were downed.
August 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Alden	$6,000	Numerous trees and power lines were downed.
July 2007	Tornado (EF0)	Alden	$4,000	A waterspout, associated with some showers, came onshore as a weak tornado near the south end of Torch Lake. The waterspout tore up some docks, and downed a few tree limbs. It was estimated as a low-end EF0 tornado, with winds of around 65 mph. Note that it is not known where the waterspout initially touched down, as the waterspout was not observed until it was already moving onshore. The tornado dissipated almost immediately upon coming onshore.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Alden	$2,000	A few trees were downed.
July 2019	Hail	Alden	-	no account filed
June 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Alden	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Antrim 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Clam River	4.4 miles	12
Kewadin	6.1 miles	12
North Arms	6.6 miles	15
Elk Rapids	7.5 miles	12
Bellaire	7.6 miles	15
Snowflake (historical)	10.4 miles	12
Creswell	10.4 miles	12
Antrim	10.7 miles	16

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 619916. 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.

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.