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Elbow Lake, Minnesota

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1911 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Elbow Lake City. It lies in ZIP code area 56531. The Survey maps it on the Elbow Lake quadrangle. 1,276 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,220 feet above sea level.

Elbow Lake within Grant County

On record in Elbow Lake

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Elbow Lake grew from 1,176 to 1,276 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
20101,176
20201,276+100 (+9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 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

3 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Elbow Lake between 1995 and 2005, burning about 147 acres in total. None 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 burning1
Other causes1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
5 May 2005Debris and open burning25 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
31 March 2000Other causes13 acresFergus Falls Wetland Management DistrictBLAKESLEY
17 March 1995Equipment and vehicle use109 acresFergus Falls Wetland Management DistrictPOMMEDETER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Grant County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Elbow Lake: 2 producers. 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
Darling PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Hanson PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Grant County

Storms near this place

38 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elbow Lake in 38 storm reports between 1996 and 2022: 16 thunderstorm wind, 15 hail, 4 funnel cloud, 3 flash flood. 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
May 2022Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake$500,000Numerous large ash and spruce trees snapped or uprooted around town. One of 4 large 100k bushel steel grain bins was blown down at the Elbow Lake cooperative grain elevator. Wind gusts likely ranged from 70 to 90 mph for several seconds. Time estimated based on radar. The Elbow Lake wind sensor went offline due to widespread power outages.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake$500,000Numerous large ash and spruce trees snapped or uprooted at the Tipsinah Mounds Campground. Damaging downburst winds impacted much of Erdahl Township with wind gusts from 70 to 90 mph. Two storage building were blown down near the Tipsinah Mounds Golf Course. Report augmented by NWS damage survey. Time estimated based on radar.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake$100,000A few large branches were blown down in shelterbelts across northern Pomme de Terre Township.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake$10,000A farm north of Elbow Lake was hit hard by the strong wind. An empty grain bin was pushed across a road and several others were damaged. A shed door was also pushed in by the wind.
June 1997Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake$10,000Strong wind blew several trees over and took the roof off a barn.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake$4,000Eight to ten inch diameter branches were blown down.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake$3,000Numerous trees around Elbow Lake were blown over in the strong wind.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake$2,000Power poles were downed.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake$2,000Large trees were blown down.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake-Peak wind was measured at the elbow lake airport /ky63/ posted on the one minute observations.
July 2020Funnel CloudElbow Lake-A funnel cloud was viewed near the cloud base.
September 2018Funnel CloudElbow Lake-A funnel cloud was reported west of highway 59 near Elbow Lake in Stony Brook Township.
September 2017Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake-A few large tree branches were blown down around town. The peak wind measured at the Elbow Lake airport was 54 mph.
June 2015Funnel CloudElbow Lake-A persistent wall cloud and funnel were observed between Elbow Lake and Ashby.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake-Several six to eight inch diameter tree branches were blown down in Elbow Lake.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake-A few three to five inch diameter tree branches were broken down around town.
June 2008HailElbow Lake-The hail lasted for five minutes.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake-Many trees were blown down around Pomme de Terre Lake.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake-A large tree was split in two by the strong wind.
August 2005HailElbow Lake-The hail fell on the north end of town.
June 2003Flash FloodElbow Lake-Water flowed across Highway 59.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindElbow Lake-Large trees were blown down.
June 2001Flash FloodElbow Lake-Highway 79 was under water from the heavy rain.
June 2001Flash FloodElbow Lake-The railroad tracks in Elbow Lake were under water from the rain.
July 2017HailElbow Lake-no account filed
April 2012Funnel CloudElbow Lake-no account filed
June 2009HailElbow Lake-no account filed
July 2003HailElbow Lake-no account filed
August 2002HailElbow Lake-no account filed
August 2001HailElbow Lake-no account filed
July 2000HailElbow Lake-no account filed
July 1998HailElbow Lake-no account filed
August 1997HailElbow Lake-no account filed
August 1997HailElbow Lake-no account filed
August 1997HailElbow Lake-no account filed
June 1997HailElbow Lake-no account filed
June 1997HailElbow Lake-no account filed
September 1996HailElbow Lake-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Grant 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
Thorsborg (historical)4.0 miles10
Wendell7.2 miles10
Barrett7.4 miles10
Erdahl8.4 miles10
Hereford (historical)8.9 miles9
Ashby10.9 miles13
Norcross14.5 miles10
Hoffman15.0 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 Elbow LakeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2556752The 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 643230. 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.