Balta, North Dakota
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1980. It stands in Balta Township. It lies in ZIP code area 58368. The Survey maps it on the Balta quadrangle. 66 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,552 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBalta grew from 65 to 66 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 | 65 | |
| 2020 | 66 | +1 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 7 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 Minot quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Balta quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Minot quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Velva quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
4 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Balta between 2015 and 2019, burning about 36 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 August 2017 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | 2017-40 |
| 12 May 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | 2017-23 |
| 17 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | EISENZIMMER FARM |
| 16 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | 25 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | KEN HEILMAN FARM |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Balta: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Otto Const Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
13 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Balta in 13 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 7 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind. 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 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Balta | $350,000 | Five empty anchored down hopper style grain bins were blown over, a trailer rolled through the yard, a gazebo was destroyed, a pool fence was blown down, and tall cottonwood trees were snapped. The farm had an anemometer on site that recorded the strongest wind gust. About one-quarter mile to the west, other trees were uprooted. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Balta | $75,000 | Much damage to a recreational area with picnic shelters and tables ripped apart. Roof torn off of a barn, many trees blown over, and grain bins blown over. Roof damage to other buildings in town and damage to two single stall garages. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Balta | $45,000 | High wind blew down four 40 foot trees. Nickel to walnut sized hail was also reported with the winds. Buildings were damaged on a farmstead northwest of Balta, along with major crop damage across central Pierce county due to the combined affects of the wind and hail. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Balta | $30,000 | The strong thunderstorm winds blew down box elder trees and bent a flagpole. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Balta | $3,000 | no account filed |
| July 2013 | Hail | Balta | - | The hail resulted in crop damage. |
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Balta | - | Very heavy rain accompanied the severe thunderstorm winds. |
| August 2016 | Hail | Balta | - | no account filed |
| August 2013 | Hail | Balta | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Balta | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Balta | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Balta | - | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Hail | Balta | - | 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 Balta | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2310098 | 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 1027801. 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.



