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Oklee, Minnesota

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1919 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Oklee City. It lies in ZIP code area 56742. The Survey maps it on the Oklee quadrangle. 413 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,152 feet above sea level.

Oklee within Red Lake County

On record in Oklee

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

Oklee fell from 435 to 413 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
2010435
2020413-22 (-5%)

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 Oklee between 1995 and 2011, burning about 6 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Arson/incendiarism1

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
6 May 1995Misuse of fire by a minor2.0 acresRed Lake AgencyR257
5 May 2011Arson/incendiarism4.0 acresRed Lake AgencyRED LAKE 192
26 May 1996Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreRed Lake AgencyR191

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Red Lake County

Storms near this place

33 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oklee in 33 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 19 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 1 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
August 2001Thunderstorm WindOklee$500,000The roof was torn off a new apartment building and blown into a field. Many trees were blown down, some into homes and powerlines. The roof was torn off of one mobile home while another was flipped over. 13 grain bins were damaged, 6 completely destroyed. The county highway department building was reduced to rubble and one truck inside was damaged.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindOklee$150,0008 grain bins were damaged and a semi trailer was overturned.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindOklee$5,000The strong wind blew a trailer off its foundation and its entryway was blown off. Several trees were blown over and a pole shed was damaged.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindOklee$500Branches were blown down.
August 2025HailOklee-Report of quarter size hail in Oklee.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindOklee-Semi truck trailer combination blown over near Oklee. Numerous large trees snapped or uprooted across lambert township. Several farmstead steel grain bins caved in, at least one collapsed. Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated from 80 to 90 mph in a 2 to 3 mile wide path. Winds in excess of 60 mph were reported over a several mile wide area. Time estimated based on radar.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindOklee-Numerous poplar, ash, box elder, and spruce trees were snapped or uprooted across farmsteads in Garnes and Equality townships between 440 and 448 pm cdt. A pole shed was blown open and metal sheathing and roofing spread downwind for over half a mile.
May 2022HailOklee-Received a video of very heavy rain accompanied by 1-inch hail via social media.
June 2022HailOklee-Photo and report of 1 inch hail was received via social media. Time estimated based on radar.
May 2022HailOklee-Hail ranging from the size of ping pong balls to golf balls was reported, with photos sent via social media.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindOklee-Received a report of large tree branches and limbs broken. Power outages reported.
August 2020HailOklee-Dime to quarter sized hail fell.
May 2016Tornado (EF0)Oklee-Two funnel clouds were noted between Brooks and Oklee between 110 and 115 PM CST, with at least one brief touchdown reported in an open field.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindOklee-Numerous large tree branches and limbs were broken down across portions of Roland Township, resulting in widespread power outages.
September 2011HailOklee-Numerous nickel to quarter sized hail fell during very heavy rains and strong winds.
June 2007HailOklee-The hail fell near the Polk and Red Lake County line.
June 2007FloodOklee-Basement flooding was reported in the Oklee area from the steady rain. The Lost River at Oklee jumped from around 4.9 feet on the morning of the 13th to 13.7 feet in the evening of the 15th, a total of about 9 feet.
May 2001Tornado (F0)Oklee-Several intermittent touchdowns were reported.
May 2001Tornado (F0)Oklee-Intermittent touchdowns were reported.
August 2020HailOklee-no account filed
June 2018HailOklee-no account filed
August 2015HailOklee-no account filed
May 2007HailOklee-no account filed
May 2004HailOklee-no account filed
July 2001Thunderstorm WindOklee-no account filed
June 2000Flash FloodOklee-no account filed
June 1999HailOklee-no account filed
June 1999HailOklee-no account filed
August 1999HailOklee-no account filed
July 1998HailOklee-no account filed
July 1998HailOklee-no account filed
August 1997HailOklee-no account filed
May 1996HailOklee-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Red Lake 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
Garnes4.8 miles10
Brooks8.0 miles10
Roland8.3 miles10
Plummer11.1 miles10
Terrebonne14.8 miles10
Red Lake Falls22.4 miles10
Perault23.2 miles10
Delorme23.6 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 OkleeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2229301The 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 648913. 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.