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North Branch, Minnesota

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1950 and the latest in 1985. It stands in North Branch City. It lies in ZIP code area 55056. The Survey maps it on the North Branch quadrangle. 10,787 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 899 feet above sea level.

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North Branch within Chisago County

Population over time

2 figures

North Branch grew from 10,125 to 10,787 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
201010,125
202010,787+662 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 16 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

105 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 105 fires within 5 miles of North Branch between 1992 and 2020, burning about 360 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 8 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 burning54
Equipment and vehicle use16
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
Recreation and ceremony9
Arson/incendiarism8
Smoking3
Natural1
Fireworks1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
8 September 2012Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
30 September 2000Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
29 September 1999Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
27 September 2000Debris and open burning10 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
10 September 2012Recreation and ceremony6.0 acresMinnesota Valley National Wildlife RefugeHENRY
23 August 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 June 2000Debris and open burning26 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Chisago County

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 North Branch: 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
E F Hals Sand & Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Chisago County

Storms near this place

30 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names North Branch in 30 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 17 thunderstorm wind, 10 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 funnel cloud. 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 2009Tornado (EF0)North Branch$100,000A National Weather Service Storm Survey determined that an EF-0 tornado tracked from near the North Branch Middle School, northwest to near Rivercrest and Riverview Courts in North Branch, Minnesota. Roof damage was indicated at the middle school, with a telephone pole snapped, and major trees blown down in the residential area. Based on roof damage and trees blown down, winds were estimated at 70 to 80 mph.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-Large tree was snapped near its base in North Branch.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-A large tree snapped near its base in North Branch.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-Multiple trees reported down.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-A Hennepin County Emergency Management Meteorologist forwarded multiple photos of trees down in the city of North Branch along Harder Parkway.
June 2015HailNorth Branch-Several reports of large hail occurred around the city of North Branch. The largest hail stone was tennis ball size.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-A few trees were blown down near North Branch.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-Numerous trees were blown down near North Branch.
August 2010Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-A large tree was blown down.
September 2008Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-A trained spotter reported two twelve to eighteen inch diameter trees downed.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-Two large trees blown down.
April 2004Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-Trees were downed.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-A dozen trees were downed throughout the city.
June 2004Funnel CloudNorth Branch-A funnel cloud was reported by law enforcement.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-Few trees toppled.
June 2003Flash FloodNorth Branch-County wide flooding. Four to eight inches of rainfall were reported across the county. Some township roads were covered by water, with closures widespread along Highway 95 between North Branch and Taylors Falls. Highway 15 was also closed near Almelund.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-Estimated Winds. Trees, powerlines toppled.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-Several trees down. Estimated windspeed.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-Large tree limbs down. Estimated windspeed.
June 1997Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-Trees blown down. Estimated windspeed.
August 1995Thunderstorm WindNorth Branch-There was roof damage at a mall. Cars were overturned. Trees and power lines were downed.
July 2023HailNorth Branch-no account filed
May 2013HailNorth Branch-no account filed
May 2013HailNorth Branch-no account filed
May 2011HailNorth Branch-no account filed
July 2011HailNorth Branch-no account filed
August 2007HailNorth Branch-no account filed
June 2007HailNorth Branch-no account filed
August 2006HailNorth Branch-no account filed
June 2002HailNorth Branch-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Chisago 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
Oakwood Court0.4 miles16
Branch2.0 miles13
Harris5.2 miles16
Kost6.1 miles14
Stark6.4 miles12
Sunrise7.1 miles17
Stacy7.8 miles13
Almelund10.4 miles14

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 North BranchAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1913823The 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 648609. 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.