Bowbells, North Dakota
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1947 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Bowbells City. It lies in ZIP code area 58721. The Survey maps it on the Bowbells quadrangle. 301 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,962 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Bowbells
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
Burke County Courthouselisted 1985
Population over time
2 figuresBowbells fell from 336 to 301 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 | 336 | |
| 2020 | 301 | -35 (-10%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 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.
- 1947 USGS Bowbells quadrangle1:24000
- 1949 USGS Bowbells quadrangle1:24000
- 1950 USGS Bowbells quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Williston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Williston quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Kenmare quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
12 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Bowbells between 2005 and 2020, burning about 111 acres in total. 1 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 | 6 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | NGATE |
| 3 August 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | not named |
| 24 August 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | CP |
| 16 August 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | 2016016 |
| 4 June 2020 | Natural | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | 4172 |
| 6 May 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | FOLSKE |
| 29 April 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | SAGNESS |
| 28 February 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | RAILROAD |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
28 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bowbells in 28 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 15 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 tornado, 2 lightning. 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 2010 | Tornado (EF3) | Bowbells | $700,000 | This tornado crossed from Burke County into Ward County. Note that for roughly three miles in the vicinity of the Des Lacs River, U.S. Highway 52 runs right on the Burke and Ward County line. The tornado was right on the highway in this area. This was the location of the worst damage with this tornado. Farm property on the north side of the highway, Burke County, and on the south side of the highway, Ward County, was impacted. One fatality and one injury occurred here, in a single automobile travelling along the highway, on the county line. The vehicle came to rest in a field, nearly 200 yards off the highway, on the south side of the highway, on the east side of the river, in Ward County. See the EF3 tornado entry for Ward County from August 12.||This third tornado touched down just northeast of Bowbells, Burke County, and tracked east-southeast along U.S. Highway 52, and into Ward County where it dissipated. This EF3 tornado was spawned from the same supercell thunderstorm that earlier produced two brief and weak tornadoes in Burke County.||Meteorologists from the National Weather Service conducted a storm damage survey on Friday, August 13, 2010. Meteorologists walked through the area and spoke with numerous people affected, some of whom were eye witnesses to the event.||Significant damage occurred nearly six miles east of Bowbells, near the Des Lacs River, where U.S. Highway 52 is on the Burke and Ward County line. Three farms were impacted. The worst damage was on the Burke County side of the highway and west side of the river, where a farm home (DI 2, DOD 8) and six outbuildings were destroyed. Nineteen of 21 grain bins were also damaged or destroyed. In addition, a fifty foot air seeder connected to a cultivator, with a combined estimated weight near 60,000 pounds, was moved approximately 100 yards. Based on a lack of scratch marks in the ground it was determined that this equipment was picked up and carried through the air. A second farm, on the Ward County side of the highway, had trees in shelter belts snapped and uprooted and the chimney on the house damaged. A third house, this one on the east side of the river and the Ward County side of the highway, also had significant damage. Here, one camper was thrown into the river on the south side of the Highway 52 bridge that crosses the river, while another camper was thrown into the river and landed on the north side of the bridge, back into Burke County. The house had damage to siding and shingles.||Of all the damage surveyed the absolute worst corresponded to a high EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Tornado Scale. From that it was determined that peak wind speeds in the tornado were on the order of 165 mph.||One fatality and one injury occurred in an automobile in this same immediate area. A car with two occupants travelling east along U.S. Highway 52 was picked up and carried over the Des Lacs River, and came to rest 200 yards off the highway, in a field east of the river, and on the Ward County side of the highway. The driver of the vehicle was injured and the passenger was killed.||See the other two tornado entries for Burke County, and the EF3 tornado entry for Ward County from August 12 as this tornado crossed into Ward County. |
| June 2024 | Hail | Bowbells | $100,000 | Hail combined with wind to cause crop damage. Buildings were also damaged, along with trees. |
| August 1997 | Lightning | Bowbells | $5,000 | lightning struck in a field where 1500 hay bales were stored. Quick reaction by the farmer and fire crews resulted in a loss of only 100 hay bales. |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bowbells | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated by emergency management. |
| September 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bowbells | - | Pea size hail accompanied the strong winds. |
| July 2012 | Hail | Bowbells | - | The hail resulted in significant damage to crops. |
| August 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Bowbells | - | A brief tornado touched down in the open country west of Bowbells. No structures were impacted so no damage was done. This tornado was spawned from the same supercell thunderstorm that later produced another brief tornado in Burke County and a long tracked high end EF3 tornado from Burke into Ward County. See the other two tornado entries for Burke County and the tornado entry for Ward County from August 12. |
| August 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Bowbells | - | A second brief tornado touched down in the open country just west of the Bowbells airport. No structures were impacted so no damage was done. This tornado was spawned from the same supercell thunderstorm that earlier produced a brief tornado in Burke County, and later produced a long tracked high end EF3 tornado from Burke into Ward County. See the other two tornado entries for Burke County and the tornado entry for Ward County from August 12. |
| July 2001 | Hail | Bowbells | - | Hail covered the road. |
| August 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Bowbells | - | Touchdown in open country. Tornado remained in open country as it crossed into Renville county. |
| July 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Bowbells | - | Numerous reports were received of this tornado, the first report coming from Minot Airforce Base personnel. Numerous brief touchdowns were reported along its path but no damage was reported. |
| August 1998 | Lightning | Bowbells | - | 99 year old church destoryed by fire caused by lightning |
| June 2024 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| August 2019 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| June 2016 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| August 2010 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| August 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| August 1999 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| September 1996 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Hail | Bowbells | - | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bowbells | - | 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 Bowbells | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2018831 | 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 1028092. 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.





