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.
Population over time
2 figuresSunburg 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 100 | |
| 2020 | 94 | -6 (-6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1953 USGS Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Sunburg quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Willmar quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
9 since 2000Regional 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 burning | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 May 2000 | Debris and open burning | 80 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 12 May 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 3.0 acres | Litchfield Wetland Management District | FREEZE WF |
| 6 April 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 170 acres | Litchfield Wetland Management District | ARCTANDER WF |
| 4 April 2005 | Debris and open burning | 25 acres | Litchfield Wetland Management District | ARCTANDER |
| 4 April 2001 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 April 2003 | Debris and open burning | 168 acres | Litchfield Wetland Management District | RANDALL WPA |
| 21 April 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 240 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 27 February 2017 | Debris and open burning | 4.6 acres | Litchfield Wetland Management District | BRENNER LAKE WF |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
22 since 1994Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburg | $15,000,000 | The 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 2017 | Tornado (EF1) | Sunburg | $100,000 | A 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 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburg | - | Strong thunderstorm wind gusts caused grain bins to buckle near Sunburg. |
| August 2021 | Tornado (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 2019 | Funnel Cloud | Sunburg | - | A funnel cloud was observed south of Sunburg. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Sunburg | - | 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 2004 | Hail | Sunburg | - | Dime sized hail was reported 20 miles east of Benson. |
| June 2001 | Tornado (F1) | Sunburg | - | Several barns and outbuildings down, church lost its roof, then tornado dissipated over open land. Filmed by storm chaser. |
| June 2001 | Tornado (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 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburg | - | Numerous trees down. One house damage by fallen tree. |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburg | - | Several trees down, one damaged cabin at Norway lake. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sunburg | - | Trees down. Estimated windspeed. |
| July 1994 | Hail | Sunburg | - | Over 15,000 acres of crops were damaged or destroyed. |
| September 2017 | Hail | Sunburg | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Sunburg | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Sunburg | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Sunburg | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Sunburg | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Sunburg | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Sunburg | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Sunburg | - | no account filed |
| June 1994 | Hail | Sunburg | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norway Lake | 7.0 miles | 8 | |
| Pennock | 14.1 miles | 9 | |
| New London | 15.9 miles | 8 | |
| Parkwood Estates | 17.1 miles | 10 | |
| Spicer | 17.7 miles | 10 | |
| Willmar | 18.7 miles | 10 | |
| Priam | 20.0 miles | 9 | |
| Regal | 21.2 miles | 8 |
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 Sunburg | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2227088 | The 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.




