Buffalo, North Dakota
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Buffalo City. It lies in ZIP code area 58011. The Survey maps it on the Buffalo quadrangle. 195 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,204 feet above sea level.
On record in Buffalo
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 2 records
1916 Buffalo High Schoollisted 2001
Old Stone Churchlisted 1996
Population over time
2 figuresBuffalo grew from 188 to 195 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 | 188 | |
| 2020 | 195 | +7 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 10 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.
- 1897 USGS Tower quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Fargo quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Fargo quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Buffalo quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Casselton quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1989 USGS Fargo quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
8 since 2016Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Buffalo between 2016 and 2020, burning about 4 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 | 4 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | 10000134 |
| 10 August 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | 10000112 |
| 3 June 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | 1000110 |
| 1 June 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | BNSF GRASS FIRE @ 141ST AVE S E |
| 29 May 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | LAGOON FIRE |
| 14 May 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | SHELTER BELT FIRE 05142019 |
| 25 April 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | 04252019 GRASS FIRE |
| 23 April 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | WISNEWSKI'S BONFIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
35 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buffalo in 35 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 17 thunderstorm wind, 15 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | 1 hurt | A semi truck was blown over by the wind near the Buffalo exit on Interstate 94. The damaged truck blocked part of the westbound lane for around 30 minutes. The truck driver suffered minor injuries. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | $1,000,000 | Two 5000 bushel steel grain bins were caved in by the winds and several trees were knocked down. The doors were blown off a machine shed. Extensive crop damage occurred across Buffalo Township. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | $500,000 | Major crop damage occurred in Cornell and Ayr Townships due to downburst winds and hail. Tree damage was also reported. A ND RWIS mesonet site at mile point 10 on highway 38 reported a 57 mph wind gust at 609 pm CST. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | $20,000 | The wind gusted to sixty-three miles per hour for five minutes until 7:45 PM. |
| August 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | $15,000 | The wind destroyed a historic barn near Interstate 94 at the Buffalo exit, the site of the 1964 National Plowing Contest. It was a campaign stop for Hubert H. Humphrey and Barry Goldwater. 100,000 people attended the event. |
| June 2001 | Hail | Buffalo | $500 | The hail broke the windshield on a car. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Buffalo | - | Delayed report of quarter sized hail. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | Semi-truck trailer combination was blown off of Interstate 94. |
| June 2018 | Tornado (EF0) | Buffalo | - | This tornado tracked across central Hill Township, mainly over open fields. It kicked up a considerable amount of dust across the southern flank of the storm, as indicated by spotter videos. Some large branches were broken down in shelterbelts. Peak winds were estimated at 80 mph. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | Six to ten inch diameter trees were blown down in Buffalo. |
| June 2018 | Hail | Buffalo | - | Large hail covered the yard. |
| September 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | Strong winds were reported along with pea sized hail. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | Strong winds were reported, flattening crops in the area. |
| June 2013 | Hail | Buffalo | - | The hail was accompanied by 45 to 50 mph winds. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | Several large tree branches and tree limbs were broken down. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | The wind gust was measured by an ND DOT RWIS sensor near Buffalo. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | The wind gust was measured at the NDOT RWIS site near Highway 38. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | Three large 60,000 bushel steel grain bins were torn off their concrete pads. Dryers and other equipment at the grain company were knocked over. Flying metal cut a nearby powerline. Numerous trees in the town were also uprooted. |
| July 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Buffalo | - | The tornado touched down in an open field. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | The wind gust was measured by the ND DOT RWIS site near Buffalo. |
| July 2004 | Flash Flood | Buffalo | - | Water flowed over county road 22 along with local field and farmyard flooding. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | Numerous trees were blown down. |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | A 58 mph wind gust was measured at a North Dakota DOT RWIS site. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo | - | A North Dakota DOT RWIS site measured a 67 mph wind gust. |
| July 1999 | Hail | Buffalo | - | One inch hail was reported at the 1-94 exit to Buffalo. |
| August 2015 | Hail | Buffalo | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Buffalo | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Buffalo | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Buffalo | - | no account filed |
| August 2006 | Hail | Buffalo | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Buffalo | - | no account filed |
| September 2002 | Hail | Buffalo | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Buffalo | - | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Hail | Buffalo | - | no account filed |
| September 1997 | Hail | Buffalo | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheatland Colony | 5.6 miles | 10 | |
| Magnolia | 6.4 miles | 11 | |
| Tower City | 6.6 miles | 10 | |
| Ayr | 8.9 miles | 9 | |
| Absaraka | 9.1 miles | 11 | |
| Embden | 10.2 miles | 11 | |
| Wheatland | 10.9 miles | 11 | |
| Alice | 10.9 miles | 10 |
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 Buffalo | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2047768 | 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 1028172. 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.





