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Fosston, Minnesota

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Fosston City. It lies in ZIP code area 56542. The Survey maps it on the Fosston West quadrangle. 1,434 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,293 feet above sea level.

Fosston within Polk County

Population over time

2 figures

Fosston fell from 1,527 to 1,434 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
20101,527
20201,434-93 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 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

10 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Fosston between 2000 and 2020, burning about 435 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 were 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 burning5
Arson/incendiarism3
Equipment and vehicle use1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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
7 May 2020Debris and open burning125 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
21 May 2016Debris and open burning1.0 acresDetroit Lakes Wetland Management DistrictSAND HILL LAKE 1
6 April 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 April 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresDetroit Lakes Wetland Management DistrictSANDHILL LAKE BALE FIRE
30 April 2020Arson/incendiarism112 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
29 April 2015Debris and open burning100 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
28 April 2001Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresMinnesota AgencySTOCK
23 April 2009Debris and open burning15 acresDetroit Lakes Wetland Management DistrictJENKINS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Polk County

Storms near this place

22 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fosston in 22 storm reports between 1994 and 2020: 12 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 1 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
July 2001Thunderstorm WindFosston$50,000A warehouse roof was blown off and parts of the roof severed the nearby powerlines. This cut power for parts of Fosston for several hours. A parked semi truck was also overturned nearby.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindFosston-Several 4 to 6 inch diameter branches were blown down.
May 2019HailFosston-The hail fell with very heavy rain.
August 2018Thunderstorm WindFosston-A cell phone tower was crumbled and bent to the ground and two satellite receiver dishes were destroyed. The roofs were ripped off of two tall grain storage bins. Peak straight line wind gusts were estimated at 90 to 100 mph.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindFosston-Strong winds blew 4 trees onto a house.
June 2007FloodFosston-The NWS Cooperative Observer at Fosston reported 5.13 inches of rain between the 13th and 14th. Some basement flooding was reported in Erskine and Fosston.
June 2002Flash FloodFosston-County roads were washed out.
June 1997Flash FloodFosston-Heavy rain flooded many roads.
June 1994HailFosston-Over 30,000 acres of crops affected by highs winds and hail.
June 1994Thunderstorm WindFosston-Over 30,000 acres of crops affected by highs winds and hail.
August 2011HailFosston-no account filed
June 2008HailFosston-no account filed
June 2004HailFosston-no account filed
June 2002HailFosston-no account filed
August 2002HailFosston-no account filed
May 2001HailFosston-no account filed
July 2001HailFosston-no account filed
August 2001HailFosston-no account filed
June 2000Flash FloodFosston-no account filed
June 1999HailFosston-no account filed
July 1998HailFosston-no account filed
May 1996Thunderstorm WindFosston-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Polk 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
West View Court0.0 miles10
Lengby7.4 miles10
McIntosh8.3 miles11
Olga9.0 miles10
Winger12.9 miles9
Trail14.4 miles11
Gully14.9 miles11
Erskine15.1 miles9

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 FosstonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2334459The 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 643832. 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.