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Lake Elmo, Minnesota

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1946 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Lake Elmo City. It lies in ZIP code area 55042. The Survey maps it on the Lake Elmo quadrangle. 11,335 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 912 feet above sea level.

Lake Elmo within Washington County

Population over time

2 figures

Lake Elmo grew from 8,069 to 11,335 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
20108,069
202011,335+3,266 (+40%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 17 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

2 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Lake Elmo between 2000 and 2020, burning about 20 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
Equipment and vehicle use1
Debris and open burning1

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
19 April 2020Equipment and vehicle use17 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
13 October 2000Debris and open burning3.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Washington County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Lake Elmo: 7 producers, 1 past producer. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Barton 769 Quarry & MillStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Twincities Silica Pit & MillSilicaPast Producer
Barton Pit No 713Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Barton Pit No 766 and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Hudson Pit No 714Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Pete Miller Pit No 2Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Pete Miller Pit and Mill No 1Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Pete Miller's Highway 94 PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Washington County

Storms near this place

20 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lake Elmo in 20 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 11 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. 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
August 2021LightningLake Elmo1 hurtLightning struck a moviegoer at an east metro drive-in theater as storms moved through the area. The man was struck about 10:25 p.m CDT, Thursday, August, 5th at the Vali-Hi Drive-In just north of Interstate 94 in Lake Elmo.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindLake Elmo$1,500,000Wind measured at Lake Elmo Airport. Thirtytwo aircraft damaged, structural damage to several hangars at the Lake Elmo Airport. Estimated damage of one million dollars at the airport, according to the Metropolitan Airports Commission. Forty homes damaged just west of the airport with another 0.5 million damage estimated. Most damage involved dislodged shingles, siding, garage doors damaged. Many large trees in the old village area of Lake Elmo suffered heavy damage, or were blown down. Some corn also flattened. Twenty thousand electrical customers out of power for several hours across Woodbury, Afton, and Lake Elmo.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindLake Elmo-Three-to-four-inch branches broken off of healthy trees.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindLake Elmo-Time estimated from radar. Delayed report of multiple medium-sized trees snapped and some uprooted.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindLake Elmo-Eleven power poles were snapped along Manning Avenue (County Road 15) south of County Road 10 near Oak-Land Junior High School.
June 2005Funnel CloudLake Elmo-Several spotters reported a funnel cloud near Interstate 94 and Keats Avenue.
July 2000Tornado (F1)Lake Elmo-Tornado occurred near County Rd. 17 and County Rd. 10. Numerous trees down and a few mobile homes were damaged before tornado moved into an open field. This tornado was produced by a mesocyclone that began producing downburst damage in Lino Lakes and continued moving southeast into Wisconsin (Pierce County).
July 2000HailLake Elmo-Damaged crops include corn, soybean, and various garden vegetables along a two mile path through Lake Elmo, according to the Courier News.
August 1999Thunderstorm WindLake Elmo-Estimated Winds. Trees down.
April 1994Thunderstorm WindLake Elmo-Strong thunderstorm winds blew down several trees and damaged a home in Maplewood. Several trees were blown down in the Lake Elmo area. A tornado touched down west of Stillwater and caused an estimated $3 million damage to 17 homes. Ten of the homes were severely damaged and a 3-year-boy was injured by flying debris.
May 2022HailLake Elmo-no account filed
May 2022HailLake Elmo-no account filed
May 2022HailLake Elmo-no account filed
June 2012HailLake Elmo-no account filed
June 2012HailLake Elmo-no account filed
August 2010HailLake Elmo-no account filed
September 2005HailLake Elmo-no account filed
June 2004HailLake Elmo-no account filed
April 2002HailLake Elmo-no account filed
May 1996HailLake Elmo-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Washington 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
Siegel4.1 miles22
Oakbury4.3 miles17
Pine Springs4.8 miles21
Oakdale5.1 miles17
Oak Park Heights5.2 miles22
Bayport5.5 miles22
Duluth Junction5.7 miles21
Stillwater5.7 miles22

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 Lake ElmoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1927010The 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 646344. 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.