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Harlowton, Montana

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Harlowton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59036. It stands on Jawbone Creek. The Survey maps it on the Harlowton quadrangle. 955 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,196 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Harlowton within Wheatland County

On record in Harlowton

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Harlowton fell from 997 to 955 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
2010997
2020955-42 (-4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 11 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

4 since 2016

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Harlowton between 2016 and 2020, burning about 5 acres in total. None 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/undetermined2
Equipment and vehicle use2

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
18 July 2017Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresNortheastern Land Officenot named
16 July 2020Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresWheatland CountyCLYDE MA
6 April 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSouthern Land OfficeSELKIRK
16 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNortheastern Land Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Wheatland County

Storms near this place

53 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Harlowton in 53 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 37 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 4 funnel cloud, 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 1994HailHarlowton$5,000no account filed
June 2025HailHarlowton-Two inch hail reported.
June 2025HailHarlowton-One point five inch hail reported.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindHarlowton-EM report of multiple structures with lost roofs, uprooted trees as well as tree limb damage.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindHarlowton-Corrects previous non-tstm wind dmg report from Harlowton. Power lines down with some power outages reported.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindHarlowton-Power lines and a shed were blown down in Harlowton.
June 2005HailHarlowton-Nickel to quarter size hail
August 2002Flash FloodHarlowton-Water was running across Old Dump Road. Road closed for 2 hours.
May 2001HailHarlowton-1.00 inch diameter hail reported near Harlowton. Some areas the hail was 2-3 inches deep. Small tree branches and leaves were stripped from the trees.
May 2001HailHarlowton-1.00 inch diameter hail covered the ground 2 to 3 inches deep. Reported by County Emergency Management.
August 1999Funnel CloudHarlowton-Wheatland sheriff dispatch reported two funnel clouds.
August 1999Tornado (F0)Harlowton-A driver on U.S. Highway 191 and an amateur radio operator reported a thin rope like tornado that was on the ground over rural areas for around 15 minutes.
June 1999HailHarlowton-Spotter report of dime size hail.
June 1999Thunderstorm WindHarlowton-Spotter estimated 60 mph wind gust. Some power lines were downed in Harlowton and in Shawmut.
June 1999HailHarlowton-Spotter report of dime size hail.
August 1999HailHarlowton-Spotter report of dime size hail.
July 1998Flash FloodHarlowton-A slow moving thunderstorm with heavy rain produced water up to a foot deep 6 miles east of Harlowton on Highway 12.
July 2022HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2022HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2022HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2022HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2022HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2022HailHarlowton-no account filed
September 2022Thunderstorm WindHarlowton-no account filed
June 2020Thunderstorm WindHarlowton-no account filed
July 2020Thunderstorm WindHarlowton-no account filed
June 2017HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2013HailHarlowton-no account filed
May 2012Thunderstorm WindHarlowton-no account filed
August 2009HailHarlowton-no account filed
August 2009HailHarlowton-no account filed
June 2005HailHarlowton-no account filed
June 2003HailHarlowton-no account filed
April 2002Thunderstorm WindHarlowton-no account filed
June 2001HailHarlowton-no account filed
June 2001HailHarlowton-no account filed
June 2001HailHarlowton-no account filed
June 2001HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2001HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2001HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2001HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2001HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2000HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 2000HailHarlowton-no account filed
June 1998Funnel CloudHarlowton-no account filed
July 1998Funnel CloudHarlowton-no account filed
June 1997HailHarlowton-no account filed
June 1997Funnel CloudHarlowton-no account filed
June 1997HailHarlowton-no account filed
July 1996HailHarlowton-no account filed
June 1995HailHarlowton-no account filed
June 1995HailHarlowton-no account filed
June 1995HailHarlowton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Wheatland 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
Springwater Colony4.5 miles11
Winnecook9.4 miles11
Duncan Ranch Colony10.1 miles16
Twodot12.7 miles16
Judith Gap17.2 miles12
Shawmut17.6 miles11
Hedgesville17.6 miles11
Living Springs19.1 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 HarlowtonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q967125The 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 772154. 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.