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Blooming Prairie, Minnesota

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Blooming Prairie City. It lies in ZIP code area 55917. The Survey maps it on the Blooming Prairie quadrangle. 1,974 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,293 feet above sea level.

Blooming Prairie within Steele County

On record in Blooming Prairie

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Blooming Prairie fell from 1,996 to 1,974 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
20101,996
20201,974-22 (-1%)

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.

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 Blooming Prairie: 1 producer. All of them still produce. 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
Wrander Pit & MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Steele County

Storms near this place

23 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Blooming Prairie in 23 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 10 hail, 5 tornado, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2010Tornado (EF2)Blooming Prairie1 hurtThis EF-2 tornado touched down and tracked east-northeast, and soon crossed the path of the Blooming Prairie EF-3 that had moved north-northeast about 10 minutes earlier. A manufactured home was obliterated by the EF-2. A woman inside the home was blown about 20 feet, but was found under debris, rescued by law enforcement, and survived. The tornado continued moving east-northeast, and several outbuildings were destroyed, along with many broken trees. The tornado continued into Dodge County.
December 2021Tornado (EF0)Blooming Prairie$105,000A narrow path of mostly tree damage was found just to the west of SE 89th Ave. An irrigation system was overturned, some farm outbuildings were damaged, and a small shed was tossed.
September 2025HailBlooming Prairie-Golf ball size hail on Hwy 30 west of Blooming Prairie.
July 2011Flash FloodBlooming Prairie-The Blooming Prairie park area was flooded due to excessive rainfall.
June 2010Tornado (EF3)Blooming Prairie-This tornado developed just north of the Steele/Freeborn County line, shortly after the dissipation in Freeborn County of the Newry tornado. This new tornado moved northeast, and initially, occasional trees were broken. Damage intensified somewhat when it hit a farm on State Highway 30 just west of Blooming Prairie. The tornado continued moving northeast, decimating crops. Some bean fields were scoured in spots. It intensified significantly to EF-3 2.5 miles northwest of Blooming Prairie, where a house was leveled, trees were snapped, and large portions of bark were removed. A pickup truck was lofted about 50 feet into the basement of the house. Several other houses sustained minor damage. The tornado dissipated just west of Highway 218 and 123rd Street. Video recorded by law enforcement and chasers.
June 2010Tornado (EF0)Blooming Prairie-This tornado moved north-northeast and caused minor damage to outbuildings and broke several dozen trees. It exited Steele County about 3/4 mile south of Steele County Road 26 and continued into Dodge County.
May 2009Heavy RainBlooming Prairie-Local law enforcement officials measured 3.50 inches of rain from several periods of heavy rainfall during the late morning and early afternoon of May 6th.
June 2009HailBlooming Prairie-The public observed several hail reports including golf ball and nickel size.
June 2009HailBlooming Prairie-The local media relayed a large hail report west of Blooming Prairie.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindBlooming Prairie-Small tree downed, many branches and other debris on lawns.
July 2002Flash FloodBlooming Prairie-Several streets blocked by high water.
July 2000FloodBlooming Prairie-Estimated 3-4 inches of rain fell during period. Minor street flooding, several homes incurred minor basement flooding.
August 1999FloodBlooming Prairie-Some streets in southwest portion of town under knee deep water. No basements flooded or damages reported.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindBlooming Prairie-Repair shop toppled by high winds. Several trees uprooted. Estimated windspeed.
July 2024HailBlooming Prairie-no account filed
October 2023HailBlooming Prairie-no account filed
September 2010HailBlooming Prairie-no account filed
May 2002HailBlooming Prairie-no account filed
July 2002HailBlooming Prairie-no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindBlooming Prairie-no account filed
March 1998HailBlooming Prairie-no account filed
June 1998HailBlooming Prairie-no account filed
July 1997Tornado (F0)Blooming Prairie-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Steele 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
Union4.3 miles7
Bixby5.9 miles8
Summit8.0 miles7
Litomysl9.1 miles7
River Point11.4 miles7
Pratt12.2 miles9
Steele Center12.6 miles7
Ellendale13.3 miles7

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 Blooming PrairieAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q885377The 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 640277. 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.

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.