Shelby, Montana
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Shelby census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59474. The Survey maps it on the Shelby quadrangle. 3,169 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,297 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Shelby
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 3 records
Rainbow Conocolisted 1994- Marias River Bridgelisted 2012
- Shelby Town Halllisted 2006
Population over time
2 figuresShelby fell from 3,376 to 3,169 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 | 3,376 | |
| 2020 | 3,169 | -207 (-6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 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.
- 1943 USGS Shelby quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Shelby quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Shelby quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Sweet Grass Hills quadrangle1:100000
- 1986 USGS Shelby quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
11 since 2017Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Shelby between 2017 and 2020, burning about 111 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Toole County | LINCOLN FIRE |
| 25 August 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 acres | Toole County | KW FIRE |
| 22 August 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Central Land Office | not named |
| 19 August 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Toole County | KRAFT FIRE |
| 4 July 2017 | Fireworks | 2.0 acres | Central Land Office | not named |
| 4 July 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Central Land Office | not named |
| 28 July 2018 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1.0 acres | Central Land Office | not named |
| 13 June 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Toole County | WELKER FIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
28 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Shelby in 28 storm reports between 1993 and 2018: 13 thunderstorm wind, 10 hail, 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | $15,000 | 1.5 inch hail...gust to 60kt...roof/siding damage to homes...wind damage to shed. |
| July 1998 | Flash Flood | Shelby | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | $2,000 | 1.5 inch hail...gust to 52kt. |
| June 2018 | Flash Flood | Shelby | - | Facebook video of flash flooding at and near the US-2/I-15 interchange in Shelby. Some cars stalled in the floodwater. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | - | Trained spotter reported a severe wind gust that caused sheet metal to wrap around pole. |
| June 2013 | Hail | Shelby | - | Heavy rain, pea sized hail, and a few severe hailstones measuring 1.00 inches (approximately quarter sized) were reported in Shelby, MT. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | - | High winds measuring 51KT (59MPH) were reported 1 mile N of Shelby, MT. |
| August 2013 | Hail | Shelby | - | Hail measuring 1.00 inches (quarter sized) was reported 9 miles NNW of Shelby, MT. Crop damage was also reported. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Shelby | - | A thunderstorm dropped 1 inch diameter hail at Shelby 10E. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Shelby | - | A thunderstorm dropped 1 inch diameter hail at Shelby 6S. |
| July 2009 | Funnel Cloud | Shelby | - | A funnel cloud was observed by the public for several minutes at Shelby 6SW. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | - | A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 60 mph at Shelby 1W. |
| July 2008 | Hail | Shelby | - | A severe thunderstorm dropped .75 inch diameter hail at Shelby 1W. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | - | A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 60 mph at Shelby. |
| August 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | - | A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 60 mph at Shelby 2SE. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | - | A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 71 mph at Shelby 15E. |
| June 2002 | Flash Flood | Shelby | - | The Marias River began to rise on June 5th, due to snow melt over southern Canada. A strong storm then moved over the area on June 10th. This storm brought between 3 and 5 inches of rain to the area. The Marias River flooded near the golf course, and remained out of its bank until June 13th. The river crested at 12.4 feet on June 11th. |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | - | Actual spotter location Shelby 18 NE. |
| June 1994 | Tornado (F0) | Shelby | - | Several severe thunderstorms moved northeast across Pondera, Glacier and Toole Counties. Two major electric transmission lines were knocked down by either a tornado or strong downburst winds. One line was south of Cut Bank and another east of town. Power was out for over 24 hours. Several out buildings were knocked down and widespread damage was done to crops. |
| June 1994 | Hail | Shelby | - | Several severe thunderstorms moved northeast across Pondera, Glacier and Toole Counties. Two major electric transmission lines were knocked down by either a tornado or strong downburst winds. One line was south of Cut Bank and another east of town. Power was out for over 24 hours. Several out buildings were knocked down and widespread damage was done to crops. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Shelby | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Shelby | - | no account filed |
| September 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Hail | Shelby | - | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelby | - | no account filed |
| May 1993 | Hail | Shelby | - | 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 Shelby | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q967384 | 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 776465. 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.




