Winger, Minnesota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Winger Township. It lies in ZIP code area 56592. The Survey maps it on the Winger quadrangle. 174 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,234 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresWinger fell from 220 to 174 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 | 220 | |
| 2020 | 174 | -46 (-21%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 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.
- 1954 USGS Bemidji quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Bemidji quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Bemidji quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Winger quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Fosston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
7 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Winger between 1995 and 2020, burning about 585 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 | 4 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 May 2016 | Debris and open burning | 22 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 May 1995 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Agency | LEECH |
| 2 May 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 acres | Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District | VESLEDAHL |
| 18 May 2014 | Debris and open burning | 155 acres | Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District | NELSON PRAIRIE WEST |
| 10 May 2004 | Debris and open burning | 8.0 acres | Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District | MALTROD 04 |
| 11 April 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District | MNDLR-WF-FY20-VESLEDAHL |
| 18 October 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 145 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
23 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Winger in 23 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 13 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 1 flash flood. 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 2018 | Tornado (EF2) | Winger | $6,500,000 | This tornado was likely wrapped in downburst winds and heavy rain for most of its path. It tracked nearly due east at about 60 mph, for at least 15 miles. It tore down trees in shelterbelts and tore roofing off of a couple of homes and farm buildings. It tore down 11 miles, or more than 50 high voltage towers, and snapped wooden power poles at cross roads along its path. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph. |
| July 2002 | Tornado (F1) | Winger | $20,000 | A metal shed roof was damaged and a steel bin roof was torn off 2 miles north of Winger. The path was intermittent. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Winger | $1,000 | Power lines were blown down. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Winger | $1,000 | A tree blew down in the wind, stripping a power meter from a wall. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Winger | $1,000 | The wind blew down a tree and tore the skirt from a trailer home. |
| November 2000 | Hail | Winger | $200 | The hailstones broke a window. |
| July 2024 | Hail | Winger | - | Public reports quarter sized hail 3 miles east of Winger. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Winger | - | An apple tree was snapped with other large branches downed. |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Winger | - | Trees were blown down onto highway 59. |
| June 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Winger | - | This tornado began in Mahnomen County about 3 miles east of Bejou at 400 PM CDT. It crossed into Polk County and tracked for another 2 miles, giving a total track length of about 6 miles. The tornado knocked down several trees in farm shelterbelts. Peak winds were estimated at 80 mph. |
| July 2006 | Hail | Winger | - | Hail, ranging in size from a quarter to a hen egg, covered the road. |
| August 2002 | Hail | Winger | - | The hail was one inch deep on the ground. |
| June 1998 | Flash Flood | Winger | - | Water was reported to be over route 204. |
| May 2010 | Hail | Winger | - | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Hail | Winger | - | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Hail | Winger | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Winger | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Winger | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Winger | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Winger | - | no account filed |
| November 2000 | Hail | Winger | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Hail | Winger | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Winger | - | 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.
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 Winger | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2227148 | 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 654260. 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.




