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Sunburg, Minnesota

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Norway Lake Township. It lies in ZIP code area 56289. The Survey maps it on the Sunburg quadrangle. 94 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,257 feet above sea level.

Sunburg within Kandiyohi County

Population over time

2 figures

Sunburg fell from 100 to 94 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
2010100
202094-6 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 8 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

9 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Sunburg between 2000 and 2017, burning about 692 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 burning5
Equipment and vehicle use2
Arson/incendiarism1
Recreation and ceremony1

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 May 2000Debris and open burning80 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 May 2013Recreation and ceremony3.0 acresLitchfield Wetland Management DistrictFREEZE WF
6 April 2012Equipment and vehicle use170 acresLitchfield Wetland Management DistrictARCTANDER WF
4 April 2005Debris and open burning25 acresLitchfield Wetland Management DistrictARCTANDER
4 April 2001Debris and open burningunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
26 April 2003Debris and open burning168 acresLitchfield Wetland Management DistrictRANDALL WPA
21 April 2002Arson/incendiarism240 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
27 February 2017Debris and open burning4.6 acresLitchfield Wetland Management DistrictBRENNER LAKE WF

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Kandiyohi County

Storms near this place

22 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sunburg in 22 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 12 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 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
June 2001Thunderstorm WindSunburg$15,000,000The mesocyclone which produced its first tornado 9 N Kerkhoven in Swift County intensified dramatically as it neared Spicer. A 5 to 6 mile wide swath of damaging wind blasted an area in a strip from Sunburg to 5 S Sunburg, then intensified dramatically as it neared Spicer and Green Lake. It continued toward the Atwater area, where a seed farm measured 103 knots (119 mph). It then exited Kandiyohi County and went into Meeker County. Hundreds of structures were damaged by the wind, including roofs off some businesses and garages, along with many downed barns, grain bins and outbuildings. Several thousand trees were felled, many onto homes and vehicles.
September 2017Tornado (EF1)Sunburg$100,000A tornado moved out of Swift County and into northwestern Kandiyohi County. It knocked down trees, damaged crops, and destroyed two machine sheds at a farm.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindSunburg-Strong thunderstorm wind gusts caused grain bins to buckle near Sunburg.
August 2021Tornado (EFU)Sunburg-There was a brief tornado just southeast of the intersection of Kandiyohi, Pope, and Stearns Counties. It was caught on video and moved across a bean field and road. Although it did not hit any damage indicators, video suggests the tornado was weak.
August 2019Funnel CloudSunburg-A funnel cloud was observed south of Sunburg.
June 2007HailSunburg-Hail covered the ground. Branches and leaves were stripped off of numerous trees. The director of the Kandiyohi County Farm Service Agency reported up to 10,000 acres of crops were damaged, but that it was uncertain how much would recover.
May 2004HailSunburg-Dime sized hail was reported 20 miles east of Benson.
June 2001Tornado (F1)Sunburg-Several barns and outbuildings down, church lost its roof, then tornado dissipated over open land. Filmed by storm chaser.
June 2001Tornado (F1)Sunburg-Tornado entered Kandiyohi County after forming 9 NNE Kerkhoven in Swift County. It traveled southeast, demolishing several barns, grain bins and outbuildings.
July 2000Thunderstorm WindSunburg-Numerous trees down. One house damage by fallen tree.
July 2000Thunderstorm WindSunburg-Several trees down, one damaged cabin at Norway lake.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindSunburg-Trees down. Estimated windspeed.
July 1994HailSunburg-Over 15,000 acres of crops were damaged or destroyed.
September 2017HailSunburg-no account filed
June 2007HailSunburg-no account filed
June 2007HailSunburg-no account filed
June 2007HailSunburg-no account filed
June 2005HailSunburg-no account filed
September 2005HailSunburg-no account filed
July 2002HailSunburg-no account filed
May 1998HailSunburg-no account filed
June 1994HailSunburg-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Kandiyohi 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
Norway Lake7.0 miles8
Pennock14.1 miles9
New London15.9 miles8
Parkwood Estates17.1 miles10
Spicer17.7 miles10
Willmar18.7 miles10
Priam20.0 miles9
Regal21.2 miles8

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 SunburgAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2227088The 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 652804. 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.