Melstone, Montana
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Melstone census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59054. It stands on Lost Horse Creek. The Survey maps it on the Melstone quadrangle. 126 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,940 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresMelstone grew from 96 to 126 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 | 96 | |
| 2020 | 126 | +30 (+31%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 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 Forsyth quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Forsyth quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Forsyth quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Melstone quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1979 USGS Melstone quadrangle1:100000
- 1983 USGS Forsyth quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
4 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Melstone between 1999 and 2018, burning about 35,519 acres in total. 2 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/undetermined | 2 |
| Natural | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 July 1999 | Natural | 33,000 acres | Miles City Field Office | FISHEL CRK |
| 20 July 2018 | Natural | 2,519 acres | Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge | WAWA |
| 4 March 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Southern Land Office | HWY 12 MM200 |
| 27 October 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Southern Land Office | 2 MILES EAST OF MELSTONE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
30 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Melstone in 30 storm reports between 1997 and 2022: 25 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2013 | Tornado (EF0) | Melstone | - | A trained spotter reported a brief tornado about 1 mile north of Melstone; while the town of Melstone experienced outflow winds in excess of 60 mph with minor tree and structural damage. A survey team estimated the tornadic winds to be 65 to 85 mph. No damage was reported directly from the tornado as the tornado remained over open areas. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Melstone | - | Trees were stripped of their leaves. |
| September 2007 | Hail | Melstone | - | Wind gusts of 56 mph were also reported. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Melstone | - | Numerous windows were broken and crops flattened. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Melstone | - | Skylights and windows were broken on a house. Roof damage was also reported. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melstone | - | Powerline down and crops destroyed |
| July 2001 | Flash Flood | Melstone | - | 3-4 feet of water running over the highway 12. Flooding lasted until 10 pm MDT. |
| July 2022 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| July 2019 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| August 2017 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| September 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Melstone | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melstone | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queens Point | 5.9 miles | 9 | |
| Absher (historical) | 6.6 miles | 9 | |
| Musselshell | 12.9 miles | 7 | |
| Delphia | 19.5 miles | 6 | |
| Kilby Butte Colony | 25.6 miles | 6 | |
| Fattig (historical) | 26.3 miles | 6 | |
| Gage | 28.9 miles | 6 | |
| Flatwillow Colony | 33.9 miles | 6 |
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 Melstone | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q940301 | 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 774093. 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.





