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Ray, Minnesota

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1999. It stands in the East Koochiching unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 56669. The Survey maps it on the Ray quadrangle. It stands 1,158 feet above sea level.

Ray within Koochiching County

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

32 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 32 fires within 5 miles of Ray between 1992 and 2020, burning about 301 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 5 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 burning15
Equipment and vehicle use6
Arson/incendiarism5
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Natural1

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
2 September 1997Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
13 August 1992Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
29 July 2012Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
23 June 2016Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 June 2019Debris and open burning5.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
19 June 2002Naturalunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
11 June 1993Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 May 1994Debris and open burning8.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Koochiching 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 Ray: 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Peat. 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
Koochiching County Peat BogsPeatOccurrence

Every working recorded in Koochiching County

Storms near this place

10 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ray in 10 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 7 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind. 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 2008Thunderstorm WindRay$5,000A roof was damaged along Highway 217 near mile post 17.
August 2023HailRay-Hail was mostly dime-sized but a few hailstones were quarter-sized.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindRay-Two trees were blown down. Branches were blown down as well.
August 1995HailRay-Hail damaged windshield of weather spotter.
June 2019HailRay-no account filed
June 2000HailRay-no account filed
August 1999HailRay-no account filed
June 1999HailRay-no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindRay-no account filed
May 1998HailRay-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Koochiching 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
Ericsburg8.3 miles8
Spring Lodge Resort and Marina12.9 miles10
Island View12.9 miles10
Thunderbird Resort13.1 miles10
Sha-Sha Resort13.1 miles10
Nakoda15.0 miles9
Falls Junction15.0 miles10
Jameson15.7 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 RayAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q14693012The 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 657994. 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.