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Vergas, Minnesota

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Vergas City. It lies in ZIP code area 56587. The Survey maps it on the Vergas quadrangle. 348 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,414 feet above sea level.

Vergas within Otter Tail County

Population over time

2 figures

Vergas grew from 331 to 348 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
2010331
2020348+17 (+5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 16 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

30 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 30 fires within 5 miles of Vergas between 1992 and 2020, burning about 275 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 7 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 burning11
Arson/incendiarism7
Equipment and vehicle use6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Recreation and ceremony1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
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
29 September 2012Recreation and ceremony3.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
28 September 2012Arson/incendiarism1.2 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
28 September 2012Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
28 September 2011Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 July 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 July 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
19 July 2006Naturalunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 May 1992Debris and open burning1.0 acresMinnesota 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

33 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Vergas in 33 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 18 hail, 10 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 1 lightning. 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 2001LightningVergas$15,000Lightning struck a church steeple in Vergas, but only caused minimal damage.
July 2008Tornado (EF0)Vergas$5,000A brief touchdown was observed between Rose Lake and Scalp Lake.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindVergas$500Trees were blown down in Vergas.
July 2024HailVergas-Hailstones to quarter sized.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindVergas-Personal weather station measured a 73 mph wind gust.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindVergas-A tree was blown down near Long Lake.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindVergas-Large branches were blown down.
July 2018Thunderstorm WindVergas-A large pine tree was blown down.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindVergas-A poplar tree was snapped off at its base.
August 2013HailVergas-The hail fell for about a minute on the south side of Vergas.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindVergas-Numerous four to six inch diameter tree branches were broken down along with a few larger trees.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindVergas-Strong winds occurred at Vergas.
June 2010Tornado (EF0)Vergas-Two persistent wall clouds tracked with periodic funnels from north central Otter Tail County into south central Becker County. One produced a brief tornadic touchdown near Rose Lake in Hobart Township. Peak winds were estimated at 75 mph.
May 2004Tornado (F0)Vergas-This tornado tracked over open country.
May 2004Tornado (F1)Vergas-Several large trees were blown down.
July 2014HailVergas-no account filed
July 2014HailVergas-no account filed
August 2007HailVergas-no account filed
June 2006HailVergas-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindVergas-no account filed
June 2005HailVergas-no account filed
July 2004HailVergas-no account filed
August 2002HailVergas-no account filed
August 2002HailVergas-no account filed
August 2002HailVergas-no account filed
July 2001Thunderstorm WindVergas-no account filed
August 1998HailVergas-no account filed
August 1998HailVergas-no account filed
June 1998HailVergas-no account filed
June 1997HailVergas-no account filed
June 1997HailVergas-no account filed
June 1997HailVergas-no account filed
May 1996HailVergas-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
Luce8.1 miles12
Dent8.5 miles12
Dunvilla11.2 miles11
Pine Cone Court12.1 miles12
Perham13.1 miles12
Clear View14.0 miles11
Richville14.1 miles12
Basswood15.1 miles13

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 VergasAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2147559The 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 653630. 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.