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Ottertail, Minnesota

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Ottertail City. It lies in ZIP code area 56571. The Survey maps it on the Ottertail quadrangle. 629 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,352 feet above sea level.

Ottertail within Otter Tail County

Population over time

2 figures

Ottertail grew from 572 to 629 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
2010572
2020629+57 (+10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 13 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

5 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Ottertail between 1993 and 2020, burning about 80 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
Debris and open burning3
Arson/incendiarism1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
4 May 1993Debris and open burning3.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
20 May 2015Railroad operations and maintenance27 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
15 May 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
11 April 1994Arson/incendiarism50 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
30 March 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Otter Tail County

Storms near this place

45 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ottertail in 45 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 20 thunderstorm wind, 18 hail, 3 tornado, 2 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
September 1998Thunderstorm WindOttertail$2,000,000An 85,000 bushel grain bin was flattened against the Ottertail elevator. Another 90,000 bushel bin crumpled to the ground, and two other 45,000 bushel bins were damaged by the strong wind. Around the town, a storage shed was blown apart, a marine business was damaged, several irrigation systems were twisted, trees were uprooted, and many signs were damaged. A pontoon was picked up by the wind and thrown 150 feet into a spruce tree.
August 2004Tornado (F1)Ottertail$200,000The tornado tracked from the Pickerel Lake area, across Ottertail Lake, to around 2 miles southwest of Ottertail. Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped off. Boat lifts and docks were strewn around the lake shores. Downed trees fell on the roofs of several homes. Power poles were snapped off causing widespread power outages. Several people reported a loud "freight train" sound.
June 2014HailOttertail$30,000A few minutes of very large hail was reported along the northeast edge of Otter Tail Lake.
August 2014Flash FloodOttertail$15,000Several secondary and county roads were overtopped and damaged due to flood waters. The Leaf River was reported flowing upstream due to higher downstream water.
August 2010Flash FloodOttertail$1,000Rainfall amounts from 4 to 5 inches produced flooding to area fields and farm access roads.
July 2000Thunderstorm WindOttertail$500A large tree was blown down across highway 78.
September 1998Thunderstorm WindOttertail$500Several trees were blown down.
July 1996Thunderstorm WindOttertail$500no account filed
July 2002Thunderstorm WindOttertail$200Branches were blown down.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindOttertail-Estimated 60 to 70 mph winds as the initial line of thunderstorms rolled through, with tree damage to branches larger than their forearm.
July 2024HailOttertail-Trained spotter reports quarter sized hail in Ottertail, MN.
July 2024HailOttertail-An mPING report of quarter sized hail in Ottertail.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindOttertail-An mPING report of trees uprooted and snapped from 1 west Ottertail.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindOttertail-Roofing was blown off of two buildings in town. Large trees snapped and broken down.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindOttertail-Received a report of trees down on power lines, resulting in local power outages.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindOttertail-Public reports of downed trees and power lines, with multiple periods of 70 mph wind gusts. Reports were relayed via social media.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindOttertail-The wind gust was measured by a personal weather station. Pontoons were flipped and docks were damaged.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindOttertail-Multiple trees were blown down.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindOttertail-A gazebo was blown over and a few shingles were blown off the roof of a house.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindOttertail-Large branches were knocked down by the strong winds, causing power outages.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindOttertail-Numerous four to eight inch diameter tree branches and limbs were blown down around Ottertail, along with several power lines.
July 2014HailOttertail-Widespread power outages were also reported.
June 2014Tornado (EF0)Ottertail-A persistent funnel with an intermittent waterspout was seen over northeast Otter Tail Lake. The waterspout was evident for about a minute.
June 2014HailOttertail-Lots of dime to quarter size hail fell.
June 2014HailOttertail-The large hail fell for a couple of minutes along with torrential rain.
June 2013HailOttertail-Pea to quarter sized hail fell at the Molls Berry Farm.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindOttertail-The area from Rush Lake through Ottertail to about three miles south of Ottertail had tremendous wind damage. Corn and other crops were flattened along with a lot of tree damage. The area lost power for about two hours.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindOttertail-A roof was blown off a building.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindOttertail-The wind gust was measured by a MNDOT RWIS site on highway 78.
July 2009Heavy RainOttertail-Roughly 3.50 inches of rain fell in a 3 hour period.
June 2006HailOttertail-The hail fell near Walker Lake.
June 2005Tornado (F2)Ottertail-Large trees were uprooted and a roof was torn off a house. The top was torn off a wooden grain elevator in Ottertail and a nearby grain bin was bent inward. A gas pump was blown over at a convenience store, causing a fire. The tornado also tore the roof off a business in Ottertail and destroyed its sign. A delivery truck was lifted off the ground and thrown 20 feet onto a nearby car.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindOttertail-The strong winds damaged boats, docks, and boat lifts around Rush Lake. Many trees were also blown down.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindOttertail-Hundreds of trees were blown over at the Balmoral Golf Course, making it unplayable for nearly a week. This was the second consecutive summer the golf course was hit with high winds and tremendous tree damage.
August 2020Funnel CloudOttertail-no account filed
April 2020HailOttertail-no account filed
July 2017HailOttertail-no account filed
June 2013HailOttertail-no account filed
July 2012HailOttertail-no account filed
June 2006HailOttertail-no account filed
June 2001HailOttertail-no account filed
July 2000HailOttertail-no account filed
July 2000HailOttertail-no account filed
June 1999HailOttertail-no account filed
July 1996HailOttertail-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Otter Tail 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
Leaf City (historical)5.0 miles9
Richville6.7 miles12
Inglewood7.0 miles13
Basswood7.5 miles13
Woodland Park8.0 miles13
Heinola8.2 miles9
Henning9.3 miles9
Richdale9.9 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 OttertailAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2102484The 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 649060. 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.