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Brown City, Michigan

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Brown City City. It lies in ZIP code area 48416. The Survey maps it on the Brown City quadrangle. 1,302 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 817 feet above sea level.

Brown City within Sanilac County

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 10 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

9 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Brown City between 2002 and 2020, burning about 17 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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
Equipment and vehicle use3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Debris and open burning2
Arson/incendiarism1

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
20 September 2019Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesBROWN CITY AREA FD 0000106 - 2019
4 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesSPEAKER TOWNSHIP FD 0000017 - 2018
1 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesBROWN CITY AREA FD 0000032 - 2018
4 April 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesBURLINGTON TOWNSHIP FD 1519021 - 2019
8 March 2020Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesBROWN CITY AREA FD 0000018 - 2020
29 March 2006Debris and open burningunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
23 March 2019Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesBROWN CITY AREA FD 0000030 - 2019
8 October 2002Arson/incendiarism9.5 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sanilac County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Brown City: 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Fire Clay (Refractory). 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
Large's Clay PitFire Clay (Refractory)Past Producer
Lapeer County Road Comm. PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
St Clair County Road Comm. PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Sanilac County

Storms near this place

14 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brown City in 14 storm reports between 2000 and 2020: 7 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 lightning. 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
August 2006Flash FloodBrown City$1,250,000Thunderstorms with very heavy rain repeatedly occurred across the same areas and dumped rain at a rate of nearly 2 inches per hour. Doppler radar estimated that 5 inches of rain fell in a west to east swath across southeast Sanilac County, and as much as 10 inches in an isolated area in and around the Brown City area. A cooperative observer in Brown City actually measured 7.35 inches over a 4 hour period on the evening of August 2nd, with an additional eight tenths of an inch falling after midnight during the early morning hours of the 3rd. The most intense rain fell from about 2000 EST on the 2nd to about 0100 EST on the 3rd. Flash flooding began around 2300 EST. Many homes in the Brown City area were heavily damaged by flood waters. The entire town experienced flooding and the city manager reported 220 damage claims filed with the city. At least 3 basements were lost and and a few homes reported nearly $100K in damages. The entire lower half of the high school was flooded with 3 to 5 inches of water. Flood waters reached 3 feet deep in a mobile home park in the city. Around 0200 EST on the 3rd, the flood waters stopped rising, and by noon, the flood waters began to recede. Total property damages were estimated at $1.25M. No injuries were reported.
May 2011LightningBrown City$50,000no account filed
June 2020Thunderstorm WindBrown City$5,000A couple of trees were snapped, with a church roof partially peeled off.
May 2014Thunderstorm WindBrown City$5,000Power lines and power poles reported down.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindBrown City$2,000Tree limbs and power outages reported.
April 2008Thunderstorm WindBrown City-Law enforcement reported trees down.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindBrown City-A trained spotter reported tree branches blown down.
April 2020HailBrown City-no account filed
August 2007HailBrown City-no account filed
June 2006HailBrown City-no account filed
June 2005HailBrown City-no account filed
July 2004HailBrown City-no account filed
August 2000HailBrown City-no account filed
August 2000HailBrown City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sanilac 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
Valley Center4.2 miles10
Melvin7.0 miles9
Marlette9.3 miles10
Peck9.7 miles10
Speaker9.8 miles9
Juhl10.4 miles9
Watertown12.3 miles10
Roseburg13.1 miles10

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 Brown CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3308138The 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 622071. 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.