Sula, Montana
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the Sula census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59871. It stands on Cameron Creek. The Survey maps it on the Sula quadrangle. 41 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,422 feet above sea level.
On record in Sula
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 1 record
- McCart Fire Lookoutlisted 1996
Population over time
2 figuresSula grew from 37 to 41 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 | 37 | |
| 2020 | 41 | +4 (+11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 11 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.
- 1955 USGS Dillon quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Dillon quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Dillon quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Dillon quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Dillon quadrangle1:250000
- 1977 USGS Sula quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Wisdom quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1998 USGS Sula quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
92 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 92 fires within 5 miles of Sula between 1992 and 2020, burning about 54,880 acres in total. 77 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 77 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 1995 | Natural | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | SUSIE Q |
| 22 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | WARM SPRINGS |
| 16 September 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | MEDICINE BEAR |
| 15 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | RC |
| 14 September 2013 | Natural | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | CRAZY |
| 9 August 2008 | Natural | 3.0 acres | Bitterroot National Forest | ELK POINT |
| 8 August 2019 | Natural | 57 acres | Bitterroot National Forest | LAWERENCE GULCH |
| 7 August 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Bitterroot National Forest | CLOSE CALL |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Sula: 2 occurrences, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Beryllium, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portable Crusher No. 1 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Broken File Prospect | Beryllium | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Be Occ | Beryllium | Occurrence | 1954 |
Storms near this place
23 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sula in 23 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 12 hail, 4 flash flood, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 debris flow. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2025 | Debris Flow | Sula | $10,000 | The Bitterroot National Forest has issued a safety alert for a debris flow across Forest Road 724 near the East Fork Trailhead. The debris flow occurred within the 2024 Johnson Wildfire burn scar after a short, intense storm dropped a radar-estimated 0.41 inches of rain in just 15 minutes, and around 0.51 inches in less than an hour. |
| July 2025 | Debris Flow | Sula | $500 | Radar-estimated rainfall of 1.77 inches fell in one and a half hours and triggered a debris flow that covered the East Fork Road, east of Sula, at Mile-marker 4. |
| September 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sula | - | Thunderstorm outflow winds were observed, with a radar estimated time of 2:47 pm MDT. Minor structural damage to the Incident Command Post for the Johnson Fire but no injuries. |
| July 2022 | Hail | Sula | - | A report of 1 diameter hail was received just east of Sula, MT. |
| August 2020 | Hail | Sula | - | A strong thunderstorm dropped large hail on U.S. Highway 93 between Conner and Sula. Quarter to half dollar size hail was reported near Sula, MT. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sula | - | A RAWS station east of Sula recorded 66 mph winds. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Sula | - | Resident reported mostly nickel-sized hailstones, with a few quarter-sized hailstones mixed in. No evidence of damage to property was seen. Resident estimated wind speeds with the storm outflow at 40 to 50 mph. Frequent lightning was also reported. |
| October 2011 | Heavy Rain | Sula | - | A spotter in Sula reported 1.00 inches of rain in 12 hours. |
| July 2010 | Hail | Sula | - | The Sula Lookout station reported 50 mph wind gusts with nickle sized hail. This observation was taken at an elevation of 6191 feet. |
| July 2010 | Hail | Sula | - | A trained spotter reported heavy rain with hail. |
| August 2009 | Hail | Sula | - | A motorist traveling over Lost Trail Pass observed nickel and quarter sized hail while traveling over the Montana side of the pass. |
| July 2008 | Hail | Sula | - | Fire lookout at 6629 feet reported 0.75 inch hail. |
| August 2004 | Hail | Sula | - | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Sula | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Hail | Sula | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Flash Flood | Sula | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sula | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Sula | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Sula | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Flash Flood | Sula | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Flash Flood | Sula | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Flash Flood | Sula | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Wildfire | Sula | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medicine Hot Springs | 2.9 miles | 9 | |
| Conner | 10.0 miles | 8 | |
| Peaks and Pines Park | 12.6 miles | 10 | |
| Holtet Court | 16.4 miles | 17 | |
| Darby | 16.5 miles | 17 | |
| University Heights | 18.4 miles | 17 | |
| Gorus | 18.6 miles | 17 | |
| Como | 20.3 miles | 17 |
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 Sula | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6135403 | 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 791640. 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.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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.







