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Verndale, Minnesota

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Aldrich Township. It lies in ZIP code area 56481. The Survey maps it on the Verndale quadrangle. 511 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,348 feet above sea level.

Verndale within Wadena County

Population over time

2 figures

Verndale fell from 602 to 511 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
2010602
2020511-91 (-15%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 9 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

75 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 75 fires within 5 miles of Verndale between 1993 and 2020, burning about 395 acres in total. None started naturally. 11 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 burning34
Equipment and vehicle use13
Arson/incendiarism11
Railroad operations and maintenance5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Recreation and ceremony4
Smoking2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
28 August 1998Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
16 August 1998Debris and open burning3.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
14 August 2001Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 July 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
27 July 1994Equipment and vehicle use30 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
27 July 1993Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
22 July 2005Smokingunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
28 June 2010Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Wadena 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 Verndale: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Schmitz PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Wadena County

Storms near this place

36 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Verndale in 36 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 19 thunderstorm wind, 10 hail, 4 tornado, 3 funnel cloud. The reports record 6 injuries. 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 2000Tornado (F2)Verndale3 hurt, $500,000A tornado that formed near Verndale intensified as it reached the Aldrich area. A mobile home, garage, barn, and 3 vehicles were destroyed 3 miles east of Aldrich. Two people, inside the mobile home when the tornado hit, suffered cuts, bruises, and a sprained ankle. The couples' son, sitting inside a car parked outside the mobile home, also sustained cuts and bruises. A horse trailer was pushed into his car and then into some nearby trees. Quite a bit of tree damage occurred along the damage path. The tornado then passed out of Wadena county and into Todd county.
September 1998Thunderstorm WindVerndale3 hurt, $500,000A trailer home rolled over in the wind, injuring two of the three occupants inside. Nearby, a man was injured when a 2x4 was blown through his kitchen window, hitting him in the side. Over 10 barns in the area were severely damaged.
September 1998Thunderstorm WindVerndale$50,000A woman and her three children escaped without injury when their house was hit with the strong winds. Several windows shattered and part of the roof blew off. A barn, silo, machine shed, and several trees were also destroyed.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindVerndale$20,000A 110 foot storage shed was blown down.
September 1998Thunderstorm WindVerndale$10,000An office building and a storage shed sustained roof damage.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindVerndale$1,000Large tree branches were blown down in the wind.
June 2001Thunderstorm WindVerndale$1,000Several trees were uprooted.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindVerndale$50010 to 15 trees were blown down in the strong wind.
August 2024HailVerndale-Law Enforcement reports quarter sized hail around Verndale MN.
August 2024HailVerndale-Public reports golf ball sized hail north of Verndale, MN.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindVerndale-Peak wind was measured at a MNDOT wind sensor along Hwy 10.
May 2022Tornado (EF2)Verndale-This tornado crossed from far northwest Todd County around 7:52 pm, about 2.5 miles southwest of Verndale, MN. It tracked to the north until 8:11 pm where it lifted 5.5 miles east southeast of Sebeka, MN. It caused extreme damage which included numerous snapped power poles and numerous trees which were snapped or uprooted. Extensive damage was noted to farm buildings which had steel roofing and sidewall panels torn off, and turnkey barns and other industrial buildings lost roofing material. Peak winds estimated to 115 mph, with a maximum width of 500 yards.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindVerndale-A peak wind of 94 mph was measured at a MN RWIS station. Widespread downburst wind damage was noted across Wadena and Aldrich Townships, with numerous large tree branches and limbs torn down, roofing material torn up, and spruce trees uprooted.
July 2018Thunderstorm WindVerndale-Large tree branches were blown down.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindVerndale-Numerous oak and pine trees were snapped and other large branches and limbs were blown down across southern Wadena Township.
July 2015Funnel CloudVerndale-A persistent wall with a brief funnel was reported.
July 2015Tornado (EF2)Verndale-A tornado wrapped in heavy rain and damaging downburst winds tracked across southern Wadena and Aldrich townships. The tornado tore down four sets of H-pole high voltage power poles and demolished outbuildings and a storage barn at the England Prairie Pioneer Farms. The tornado also demolished a silo and ripped through sections of center pivot irrigation systems at multiple locations. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.
September 2014Thunderstorm WindVerndale-The wind gust was measured by a MNDOT RWIS sensor near Verndale.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindVerndale-The wind gust was measured by a MNDOT RWIS sensor along highway 10.
September 2013Thunderstorm WindVerndale-The wind gust was measured by a MNDOT RWIS site near Verndale.
July 2010Tornado (EF0)Verndale-A brief touchdown occurred in an open field north of U.S. Highway 10.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindVerndale-Numerous large tree limbs and branches were blown off in several shelterbelts along U.S. Highway 10.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindVerndale-Trees were uprooted by the strong wind and 2 fell on a house. Trees also fell on power lines and blocked city streets.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindVerndale-A MN DOT RWIS site along U.S. Highway 10 measured the wind gust. Tree damage was also reported at the town cemetery and several trees fell on homes in town.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindVerndale-The roof was torn off a turkey barn and thrown across U.S. Highway 10.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindVerndale-A MNDOT RWIS site measured a 60 mph wind gust.
May 2022HailVerndale-no account filed
July 2020HailVerndale-no account filed
August 2019HailVerndale-no account filed
August 2013HailVerndale-no account filed
June 2008Funnel CloudVerndale-no account filed
September 2007HailVerndale-no account filed
June 2005Funnel CloudVerndale-no account filed
June 2005HailVerndale-no account filed
September 2002HailVerndale-no account filed
June 2001HailVerndale-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Wadena 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
Aldrich4.4 miles9
Wadena7.1 miles9
Blue Grass10.0 miles9
Esterdy15.9 miles9
Sebeka16.5 miles9
Oylen16.7 miles8
Nimrod18.1 miles8
Menahga24.9 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 VerndaleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2055717The 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 653638. 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.