BlockBefore

Acton, Montana

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1989. It stands in the Northwest Yellowstone census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59002. The Survey maps it on the Acton quadrangle. 48 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,802 feet above sea level.

Acton within Yellowstone County

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 10 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

6 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Acton between 1996 and 2019, burning about 4,967 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Equipment and vehicle use2
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
26 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined465 acresBillings Field OfficeBAR DIAMOND
18 August 1996Natural4,500 acresSouthern Land OfficeDOVER RANCH
1 August 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSouthern Land OfficeMUFFLER 13
1 August 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSouthern Land OfficeMUFFLER 16
12 June 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.1 acresYellowstone CountyTHISTLE
20 January 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreYellowstone CountyFUEGO 002

Every fire recorded in Yellowstone County

Storms near this place

29 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Acton in 29 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 18 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 2 funnel cloud, 1 tornado. 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
July 2025HailActon-Hail reported by spotter.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindActon-Reported by personal weather station.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindActon-Wind report from spotter.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindActon-A wind gust of 59 mph was reported 10 miles east of Molt.
August 2019HailActon-Wooden fence posts were broken and a steel post was bent. Large tree limbs were down and windows in a home were broken.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindActon-Wooden fence posts were broken along with a steel post being bent. Large tree limbs were down and windows in a home were broken.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindActon-A Russian Olive tree roughly 8 inches in diameter was damaged.
June 2018HailActon-The hail was reported along Highway 3 north of Billings.
August 2013Thunderstorm WindActon-A severe thunderstorm produced a damaging microburst in the Acton area. The winds were estimated to be 90 mph with the worst damage in an area about 250 yards wide and a mile long. Structural damage consisted of a dozen mobile homes experiencing damage, two of which experienced significant damage with roof tops ripped off of them. In addition, three garages were destroyed and numerous other structures damaged.
August 2005Tornado (F0)Acton-Thunderstorms began developing along an east to west oriented surface boundary southwest of Billings around 5:50 PM 11 August 2005 and remained anchored to the boundary through about 7:20 PM. A left moving supercell then began to move off the boundary and to the northeast. Over the next 45 minutes, the storm split numerous times as it moved northeast, but remained the dominate splitting cell. During this time, the storm either ignited or moved over a recently ignited fire by earlier convection. Around 8:27 PM, shortly after passing over the fire, a tornado was spotted by a motorcyclist traveling in the area. The cyclonic tornado likely developed along the storm's outflow and was not associated with the left moving supercell's mesocyclone. A pre-existing surface boundary possibly from convection to the north, was also in the vicinity. The F0 tornado moved northeast around 20 mph until 9:05 PM, when it lifted.Visually, the tornado was ominous looking, possibly because it picked up smoke. However, it appears the tornado's rotation was weak per video and lack of any evidence of the tornado in a storm survey conducted by a National Weather Service employee.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindActon-Spotter estimated wind gust of 60 mph.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindActon-no account filed
August 2024Thunderstorm WindActon-no account filed
August 2022Thunderstorm WindActon-no account filed
July 2022Thunderstorm WindActon-no account filed
September 2022Thunderstorm WindActon-no account filed
July 2021Thunderstorm WindActon-no account filed
August 2019HailActon-no account filed
August 2018Thunderstorm WindActon-no account filed
June 2015HailActon-no account filed
August 2015Thunderstorm WindActon-no account filed
August 2013Funnel CloudActon-no account filed
August 2013HailActon-no account filed
June 2011Funnel CloudActon-no account filed
June 2007HailActon-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindActon-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindActon-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindActon-no account filed
August 2005HailActon-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Yellowstone 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
Comanche6.8 miles10
Rimrock8.9 miles11
Mountain View Colony9.9 miles6
Baseline10.2 miles11
Cameron Park10.4 miles11
Hesper13.1 miles11
Billings Heights13.5 miles19
Billings13.9 miles11

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 ActonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q832844The 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 801982. 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.